Yes, some visitors from developing countries will appreciate Qatar merely for its quality of infrastructure and overall safety (a positive aspect that deserves more attention). MOD EDIT: On it. - Paul Calixte.
Pork products are not easily available in a number of countries. Does that mean they should never host a World Cup? I thought this is a global sport? Surely the visitor can be asked to make some adjustments? If the Middle Eastern tourist can be expected to double and triple check every dish in Brazil for pork then surely the Latino traveler can go for a few days without pork in a reverse scenario. I understand the complaints about the availability of alcohol but surely this can't be a major grievance about the Qatar World Cup?
No, just that they should have some available via contraband for us bacon-hungry Americans...your mistake is that you think bacon is just another foodstuff. No, for us it is as important a staple as Nutella for the French OTOH, I'm almost certain that 1) Latinos would be fine waiting until they get back home to enjoy their pernil and lechón, 2) in some countries in LatAm (e.g. Peru), turkey's the more popular holiday meat anyways and 3) most importantly, Latino football fans would happily go to North Korea to support their teams in a WC finals, amenities and regular freedoms be damned
Considering that Infantino can't even publicly commit to not having the World Cup in fricking Iran, India would be far from the worst place FIFA could select all things considered.
I'm not exactly sure what the nature of your misgivings of a theoretical India WC are, but I can pretty much assure you that an Iran WC would be less of everything you can imagine bad about India, except for the autocratic political superstructure. Keep in mind, Russia just held one.
I have no problem with India hosting personally. Granted, I'm a bit biased being of Indian descent myself. The one big issue, however, is India's relative lack of economic development and infrastructure, and I can understand why some might be concerned about that. I don't think it's an insurmountable problem, however. Iran IMO has to be ruled out because of political problems alone. Russia isn't a fair comparison. Yes, Russia is an authoritarian country, but not in a way that impacted World Cup attendees. With Iran, on the other hand, we're not even sure if they will allow female fans into stadiums. Even if they do, there are still issues with things like their Islamic dress code and gender segregation policies. Needless to say, these issues would not make for a good fan experience, and I think that is a very important part of any WC. I'm aware that Iran is more developed than India, but the political and ideological issues with the current Iranian regime make Iran a worse potential host overall IMO. I say leave Iran out of any conversation about hosting until they get a new regime.
Regardless, it's still important to explain why it could never happen for those who lack awareness about the subject. And the Iran idea WAS serious enough that someone felt the need to get a public statement from Infantino on the matter.
Food would be any person's last concern for a country that has food as good as India. Its the one country I could see myself being a vegetarian in.
It's not going to happen in my lifetime, but I wouldn't mind an India World Cup at all. Amazing food, unique culture, and a unique tourism experience that will offer a lot outside of the football. I understand your comment re Russia and its autocratic system, but I had an amazing time there last year.
I could see India hosting but as a joint bid with China or something. We all know that Infantino loves the regional World Cup idea.
My point was more that: 1. Iran is, in many ways, significantly more developed than India, and 2. Iran-as-uberbogeyman is getting more and more ridiculous by the minute. If RSA and Brazil can pull one off (noting the tremendous civil issues in both), Iran could, too.
Regional WCs make more sense when some/all of the countries can’t host a WC on their own without non-sensical infrastructure costs. Like Canada. India and China seem to be capable to host on their own.Plus they are not really in the same region. India-Thailand- Singapore or something like that would make a bit more sense. Though might have to be another winter WC.
We have had this conversation before. I don't think any country will find it smart politically to bid without another country in the future. Especially with Infantino's agenda being a priority. Regional bids are the way of the future for everyone even if they can do things by themselves.
Maybe that’s true now but we are talking 20-30 years in the future (since Asia has the next WC). And India and China are not really the same region.
I never denied the first point; in fact, I openly acknowledged it in my reply to you. As for the second point, I am not offering a defense of U.S. foreign policy. I would think it just as absurd if Saudi were proposed as a potential WC host. There. Happy? Two things can be true at once. Is U.S. foreign policy garbage? Yes. Is the Islamic Republic a regressive, ideologically rigid regime? Also yes. You can disagree with the foreign policy implications without whitewashing the serious problems that do exist in the Islamic Republic. I stand by my position that the social policies of the Islamic Republic are not conducive to a good fan experience. This is not fair to the rest of the world that does not abide by Islamic law, and is reason enough to disqualify Iran as a potential host. I'm not going to lower my standards just so Iran can meet them. RSA and Brazil don't ban female fans or impose gender segregation based on Biblical texts. The problems with Iran are of a completely different sort from any previous host, and to suggest otherwise is either deliberately misleading or a result of less than full information. I understand the desire to attack U.S. foreign policy, but we shouldn't engage in cultural relativism as a response.
@Paul Calixte - perhaps it would make sense to move all the 48-team format discussion posts to this thread. I don't see Qatar 2022 being expanded, that's just unrealistic Infantino drivel. Qatar won't let themselves be bullied into hosting with the UAE and Bahrain. And without further hosts it's simply impossible. Now.....where were we? Oh yes, how Doha isn't Dubai. So @glennaldo_sf - when is Doha getting its version of Zero Gravity?
I'm not trying to fight you. Really. I swear. Neat. We agree nearly 100%. That bridge has been crossed already with each host after 2006, but especially the one in 2022. This is true, but as we are seeing (and as I and others have personally experienced in the region) the rules of autocracies can be, shall we say, fluid and highly dependent on against whom the rules apply (generally speaking, across the Gulf in the Sunni states, natives and Muslims are usually solely held to said Quranic justice standards, with a more Common Law regime for non-believing visitors - a bit like the "one country, two systems" of Hong Kong in practice). That is not my main motivation. I'm not even advocating for it in any way. I would just rather see less unthinking bellicosity in our collective flights of fancy.
I don't disagree, but the banners that I saw in Abu Dhabi on Airport Road and Sheik Zayed the 1ST and other thoroughfares which explicitly advocated for Qatar to be selected (and they looked awfully official) leads one to believe that, at least back then, they may have had a contingency agreement. Otherwise, why would Abu Dhabi care? It always seemed odd at the time.