Qatar 2022

I can't believe that it has suddenly become acceptable to have the WC in Qatar. I thought this was what started all the cleansing of FIFA and just getting rid of the Swiss git is hardly sufficient. I too have been to all WCs since 1982 except 1990 and will not have any intention of even watching the disgrace that is Qatar. The fact it was so fraudulently obtained leaves a dreadful taste in the mouth.

 

The bribery is regrettable, but seems de riguer for FIFA matters, so I can't get too worked up about that. The appalling conditions of the workers constructing the sites is a different issue however. It is too bad, because I've never been to that part of the world, and probably would have gone to the WC, but certainly won't attend in 2022, given the Qataris depraved treatment of their foreign workers.

 

Qatar cuts WC budget by 40% --- or has enough cost savings they are coming in under budget by 40%? Depends on the perspective I guess. It also seems they continue to modify some of the basics of the proposal they won with. Now wanting to go down to 8 stadiums....

http://money.cnn.com/2017/04/05/news/economy/qatar-2022-budget-soccer/index.html?iid=hp-toplead-intl

 

Well you reduce the stadiums you're building by 1/3rd, don't develop the technologies you swore would be in place to support your bid, etc... of course you're going to see a corresponding cost savings. The Qatar bid ended up being a steaming pile of BS that FIFA bought hook, line and bribe.

 

The bid evaluation report for Qatar 2022 marked stadium construction as a "medium risk", and warned that
A legal risk in the financing, construction and management of [the 12 proposed] stadiums exists as nine stadiums are owned by the Qatar Olympic Committee, while nine stadiums would be newly built and a further three stadiums would undergo major upgrading through the addition of modular seating. FIFA's leverage to react to deviations from the presented concepts would be minimal.

Also, presumably this promise is impacted, one way or another:
construction of 22 modular stadiums for countries in need (after the FIFA World Cup)

 

I'd love to see a list of the Qatar bid selling points redlined for what ended up being BS.

 

I think I found a list that was shown to FIFA in a back room somewhere in Switzerland:

 

Chose, the ones you prefer :



Together with a gold watch, and a necklace of fine qatari pearls for wives or lovers, as souvenir,

 

This was a cool thing i will admit. When the Asian Cup was here, we could go to 2 games a day right after each other... was a fight through traffic ut hopefully the metro will fix that

 

I've said before that had the Qatar bid been above board, I'd have supported it. The season change is interesting, the Euro league players won't be their usual all worn out, they'll be in mid-season form. No travel for teams, no altitude or weather variations. It'll be sterile, I would not want every WC to be like this, but as a one off it will be interesting. And, had it been above board and not exploited workers, would be a cool fan experience. Choose a week, go to a game every day. No travel, etc...

 

I don't see that as a positive at all. Traveling to the various venues, seeing the diverse parts of the host country has always been (for me) one of the delights of attending a World Cup. The 2022 WC will have very little of that.

The matches better be good, because by most accounts the rest of the Qatar experience is going to be an unpleasant bore.

 

I agree, but as a one-off the differences will be fun. And is a future of giant 48 teams World Cup held over entire continents, we may miss small contained WC's.

 

http://www.newvision.co.ug/new_vision/news/1451119/starts-qatar-world-cup-final-stadium

 

Enjoyed the article, I haven't paying close attention, but I didn't realize it was as many as 8 stadiums minimum. Wonder why? It's not a part of the world that gets torrential rain, I'd think they could play two days in a row in the same stadium. I also wonder how useless the 80,000 seat stadium will be in the future. I'd like to see the CWC go to more vibrant fan culture cities (like Mexico City, or Miami, FL) but I'm glad these guys in Qatar will get one so they can use this stadium again. Is the worker abuse situation improving? I've not seen news about that recently.

 

http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/y...t-khalifa-stadium-in-record-time-2879830.html

 

http://www.goal.com/en/news/8/main/...-behind-the-made-in-qatar-2022-fifa-world-cup

 

https://www.tradearabia.com/news/IND_324096.html

 

Here's a link to the FIFA evaluation of the Qatar bid.
http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/tournament/competition/01/33/74/56/b9qate.pdf

Two biggies here:

1. Climate control at stadiums and for fans --- fixed by moving the season it was held in.
2. Number of stadiums

Highest risk was Team Facilities, which I haven't seen any press on.

Of course things like human rights were not included in the evaluation.

There was a mention of the legal underpinnings being pretty strict. Also Sharia would:" impose certain restrictions on the sale, advertising and distribution of certain goods and services."

 

It is interesting that people have managed to find anything positive about Qatar getting the World Cup but equally frustrating when people accept it is the most fraudulently awarded one but that does not really matter as there are always a lot of backhanders involved. I thought the getting rid of Fatter and all his mates was to draw a line under this sort of appalling situation but clearly not. This was to be my 10th WC and pretty fed up I have to avoid it at all costs.

 

That report lost all credibility, the moment the chairman in charge of leading the comitee that made it, got sanctioned by FIFA, over corruption charges, related to it.

So, no need to point it out, as being a credible source for anything.

Anyhow, when the FIFA exco took their votes to award the wining bid, no one read any of the evaluation reports.

 

Yeah, but those countries aren't hosting the World Cup. So then all you're doing is taking a vacation at the same time as the World Cup.
During a WC, there is a very different vibe in the WC host country(ies) compared to the vibe outside the host country(ies). It's that 'vibe' that is appealing to fans. Once you leave the WC host nation(s) it ceases to become a football vacation. Being in India during Qatar 2022 is no different than me being in New York and sneaking out of work for a "dentist appointment" so I can watch a big match.