Qatar is probably the best place to have a FWC and also means FIFA can give it to 'asia' without losing too much european TV revenue. Japan won't get it.....although that holographic thing sounds cool. I want it in Australia as well obviously but the distance between cities makes it a bit impractical unless public transport is improved more.
I got to agree with you on that, especially public transport. Melbournes public transport is terrible. I'm not so sure about the other states.
Unconfirmed reports saying Qatar won 2022 and Sky reporting its going to 3rd round of voting for 2018 should be announcing any minute now http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/bidders/live/index.html edit: announcement delayed 30 minutes
England is out first lol...Qatar won edit: apparetnly its spain/portugal edit: now unconfirmed reporting russia edit: goddamn just announce it you **********
Congrats Russia & Qatar. Was never gonna be in Japan but I'm VERY disappointed it didn't come to Australia. But the fact is, you could give about 80 different countries the right to host a FWC and given some time any one of them would be capable of getting up to scratch and holding a good FWC. So really I think its just a matter of expansion of football in the world and as a sporting event doing something interesting and perhaps slightly controversial. For this reason England is ALWAYS considered a safe bid and why it'll be difficult for them to get it again. By the comments Junji Ogura said from time to time I don't think he really expected Japan to get it. So China 2026 is out haha.
Why doesn't FIFA just call all this farce an auction? I didn't hope that Japan gets it, but to think that Japan had to pair with S.Korea to hold a World Cup and now the country with the most footballing tradition aka Qatar gets one for itself... is bizarre to say the least.
So mafia country and Oil Money.... Great choices FIFA.... When was the lasting ********ing time Qatar qualified for a World Cup anyways
If there is one benefit it's that at least it means that Qatari football will definitely be boosted in quality if they play their cards right. Meaning west asian football will improve and therefore quality of AFC will improve in general. This wouldn't have happened had either japan, Korea, USA, or Australia won it.
I'd accept Qatar. Fair that the Middle East get one. Russia, thou... Let's hope Japan plays in Vladivostok!
Delighted by the results !! Qatar (GMT -2) ==> very convenient time for broadcasting, closer to my location, no visa difficulties. The small area of the country offers the possibility of watching several games in the same day with ease. Hope they fulfill their promises. According to medias, the designation of the WC candidates was a non-event in Japan. Did they knew they had no chances or was it something else ?
It might have something to do with the failed 2016 Olympic bid, and the idea that Japan has nothing to gain from hosting these events any more. The only contact I had with that bid was when I was given a Tokyo 2016 pin badge at the Hiroshima Flower Festival for correctly answering a list of questions about local sports teams.
They knew, and it is fair enough. Japanese soccer needs to renew their ruling class, then they can bid for a WC. For now we can count on awesome players and quite a few good foreign coaches, which is surely a good thing.
I see. You can add to this the excellent football infrastructures, Japan has so many modern and beautiful stadiums. 2002 was a wonderful opportunity for the development of sports and football there. 2022 ? Perhaps it was too early..
Folks we only have 1 choice left. Tell everyone you know to go out and buy an electric car. That should choke off their funds. Sigh... What's the point? FFS please don't embarrass yourself at the WC Qatar.
Japan had no chance what so ever. Which is fine by me because the money can be better spend in other areas. The thing that puzzles me the most is why Australia only got 1 vote. If FIFA wanted to play into the "new frontier" idea then what was wrong with Australia?
I'm still in shock at how Blatter has managed to pull this off. There is a FIFA leadership competition next year IIRC, and bin Hammam is constantly in the press talking about how he wants to run FIFA. So how does Blatter deal with this? He holds the vote for the 2022 WC at the same time as the 2018 one, just to muddy the water a little. Then miraculously, Qatar wins the 2022 hosting rights and bin Hammam is kept quiet for another tenure. Qatar have probably already agreed, at Blatter's behest, to channel money either through the AFC (easy since bin Hammam is the president) or through 2022 money directly, towards the other AFC members as thank-you money, with Korea being prime beneficiaries in order to keep Chung Mong-Joon quiet (who also has leadership aspirations). And the truth is probably even more outlandish than even this. It really is amazing. I can't wait for Andrew Jennings to dig up all the bodies FIFA has buried over the years.
The main beneficiaries of a Qatar WC(what a joke) is Blattner and Hammam. The losers are Chung and US. Chung's leadership aspirations already marked him out as a target for Blattner and Hammam. With the WC going over to Qatar, Hammam and Blattner are probably in bed together with Chung being pushed out of contention as Blattner's successor. Blattner will be swimming in oil money in one way shape or form. Twice the population of Qatar attended US WC in 98. US is probably next to host. Japan and Korea will have to fight each other fiercely to host with loser having wait another 30-40 years. It's probably Korea if they can get NK to open Pyongyang stadium. But Korea and Japan are both in the same boat in way since more power in Asian football is being shifted to Hammam, Qatar and middleeast the land of grassrollers and sports corruption.