Russia was selected ahead of co-bidders Spain-Portugal and Holland-Belgium and England, which won only two votes. Qatar was selected to host the 2022 World Cup beating out a competitive United States bid. Following the recent world cup in South Africa FIFA decided to continue its theme of hosting "la Copa Munidal" in "new lands". Qatar even promised to overcome heat of up to 130 degrees with air conditioned outdoor stadiums, however for Qatar to host a "successful" World Cup the attendence would have to be twice the population.
Im in favor of expanding the World Cup's location to new places, yet I wonder how the Russian government will be able to find the funds for both this and the upcoming Sochi Olympics. As a huge sports fan, I mainly want to see some good soccer so I dont really have any preference on the location of such an event. (Yet was Qatar the right choice?)
16 comments:
I don't have a preference to the location of sports events either. But with a title of World Cup, it better be hosted by countries from all corners of the globe. Russia is a fine choice, in my opinion. Qatar, I think, is also a good choice for the 2022 World Cup. It's sure different from the US and it'll bring a spotlight onto the country.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/03/sports/soccer/03worldcup.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
A few interesting points from the NY Times article:
Qatar is a country with a lot of oil and will be the first place in the Middle East to host the World Cup. I'm not familiar with Qatar's wealth, but perhaps they can pay the $4 billion for the air conditioning and the new stadium with the revenue they bring in with oil.
According to the New York Times article, some suspect that the FIFA president is trying to win a Nobel Prize for selecting diverse and new locations for the World Cup.
The United States, as Bryce mentioned, lost the bid to be the host in 2022. They also lost the bid to host the Olympics in 2016. Both times, the US had many key advantages and was favored to win. Although it's possible that political biases have nothing to do with these decisions, these could be signs of how the world currently perceives the United States - all ashambles in its problems and not ready to lead the world, although hopefully some of our problems will be resolved by the time those two events.
I believe that Russia is a great choice for the 2018 World Cup, although I do agree with Bryce in that the Russian government is going to have to turn out a lot of money to prepare for both the Olympics and World Cup.
In regards to Qatar, initially I was shocked. I thought it would be impossible for them of all countries to receive the bid, but they have made some huge promises and FIFA will now have to hold them accountable for making sure they're ready for the international spotlight on the Middle East. This is a great opportunity for them to show the world the Middle East in a different light as compared to the war torn countries we see on the news.
I'm not the most avid soccer fan, however when it comes to the World Cup, I never miss a match. To be honest when I'm watching the game I don't really pay attention to what country is hosting because it's still a soccer field that they're playing on. Even though I support the FIFA organizations "New Lands" theme, I feel as though a country that is honored enough to host the World Cup should at least be good at soccer. Yea, South Africa wasn't amazing but at least they placed in Top 32. Russia... okay, so they placed fourth back in 1966 and hasn't even made the cut since 2002. And Qatar... do we even need to mention?
The 2022 world cup security is going to be a nightmare. Just because it's in the middle east right next to many hostile countries.
I think the World Cup should definitely make its way around the world in many different locations. I would much rather have it in the U.S. tho, I love the World Cup and would die to see it live! Hopefully that will happen one day, but until then best of luck to Qatar and finding the funds to make it a great World Cup. I think they can do it.
Another follow-up comment:
I just read an article in a Japanese newspaper about this piece of news, and I thought I might share some of the points and perspectives that this article had to offer.
1. The headline of the article is "FIFA takes a risk." This summarizes the main points of the article that emphasizes the risks in having Russia and Qatar as the hosts of the World Cup.
2. Russia plans to have 16 total stadiums for the World Cup but needs to build 13 of them by 2018. Qatar plans to have 12 total stadiums but needs to build 9 of them and add significant improvements to the other three that already stand.
3. As Bryce has already mentioned, Qatar is predicted to have temperatures of over 100 degrees at the time of the competition. This climate problem was deemed as a "high risk to the health of the athletes, spectators, and other involved persons."
4. Russia's airports and "connections with foreign countries" were also considered facts of "high risk."
The author of the article expresses discontent over FIFA's selection of these places despite these risks: "What was the point of the 35-page proposals that each competing country prepared for this, anyway?" He also points out several times that the decisions were basically corrupt and based on money and politics.
It is disheartening to see such corruption behind an event that is supposed to unite people around the globe to celebrate soccer. One can only hope that these World Cup events will turn out to be successful.
I believe it is a great idea to let Russia host the 2018 World Cup. It can help build better relations between the different countries, and the cost to Russia will be worth it because they will get much more publicity and be able to sell merchancise. I also want to state out that I am a very BIG Netherlands fan, and that I hope they win it all! Let's go Netherlands!
I feel that another important aspect of hosting in Qatar is the safety of the spectators. I know I'm stereotyping, but every time something bigs happens in the Middle East, I automatically think about what the terrorists will do. Even though its theoretically possible for terrorists to hit up other locations around the world, it is relatively easier due to the proximity and possible inside connections they have in Qatar.
But on a positive note, how much you put in is how much you get out. China invested so much into the 2008 Olympics and it really paid off. I love watching the World Cup and Olympics, so why not let nations benefit economically all the while enjoying exciting international sporting events?
Also, I'm glad that the U.S. was not picked for either event because it cannot always try to steal the spotlight and win in the end. Let it go.
I feel hosting the World Cup in Qatar is completely safe and it is time for the world to move on from a more euro-centric perspective. For the most part, terrorists only want to kill Americans or other Europeans. I would find it hard pressed for them to kill a couple of "brothers". Qatar also is a fairly safe country in general and has fairly thriving cities. Many colleges actually have branches in Qatar. Heat wise, it will just be an extra reason why global warming is ever so prevalent. We would not want the Bay Area to be that warm and also people have lived there for hundreds if not thousands of years, if they can cope with it so can everyone else. We should see Qatar in a different light for a few weeks, a place of innocent civilians who are wrongly blamed for terrorist attacks.
I do have to admit though that Japan has much more technology planned into their design. http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/03/world-disappoints-us-once-again-japan-loses-2022-3d-holographic/
Finally, I feel Russia is also a fine country to host the World Cup. There are already hosting the Winter Olympics in 2014 and also Europe is very dependent on Russia for oil and other natural resources. Russia is a country that has been getting bad press recently, but it is overall a stable country.
All in all, I have to say though there may be some back deals, usually there always is, I feel these places were well selected.
While I think that this endeavor will greatly benefit Russia because of the massive amount of international tourism that will occur, I'm not so sure about Qatar. If you think about it, most people from all over the world would have no problem traveling to Russia, but I think that many people (especially from the richer countries) might not want to go to Qatar. While this maybe unfair and even prejudice in some cases, I still think that it will be true. Even so, I am glad to see that Qatar will be hosting in 2022. This could even end up being an opportunity for Westerners to see the Middle East in a different light. I just hope that the attendance does end up being from all over the world.
can we get a prjudice check here? there are many parts of the middle east.
including the countries that speak farsi, the countries that speak arabic, and the others.. (turkish, hebrew, armenian... etc)
to say that qatar is to be associated with terrorism is like saying japan should be associated with north korea. japanese people are different from korean people but remember that arabs are different from persians.
i have an uncle that works in dubai as an OFW (overseas filipino worker) and i do not here of him stressing out from regular car bombs or from fear of my 6 year old cousin getting hurt on the way to school. **knock on wood**
Anyways, thinking about dubai's indoor ski resort, I can't wait to see how the air conditioned outdoor stadium will turn out in qatar
-raymond lim
I also do not have any preference to where the world cup is hosted, because it is about who plays and not where it is. It is called the World cup for a reason though, it should have countries that are under the radar like Qatar because it puts Qatar on the map and helps boost their economy for other reasons than oil, and as for Russia it gives them a chance to rebound from some historically bad times
Responding to Raymond's comment, there is no predjudice just real fear. I know that terrorist attacks can happen anywhere at anytime. But let's just face it, terrorist would like nothing more to commit a attack on a international level. I would like to add that it doesn't help the fact that one of the world's largest terrorist organization is based several hundred miles away. You can't say for a fact that Al-Queda or any other terrorist organization has connections in Qatar.
@ Jonathan Luo: You stated that, "terrorists only want to kill Americans or other Europeans I would find it hard pressed for them to kill a couple of "brothers"." Well first of all, isn't it easier to kill Americans and Europeans when they are only a couple hundred miles away from your home? Second, I highly doubt that any of their "brothers" will make it into the world cup seeing that none of them made it in the last world cup, and only two from the 2006.
Hopefully, nothing will happen.
@Caspar You have an excellent point, but let me word it this way. Qatar is a relatively safe country and Muslims have for years been very wary of the whole soccer idea as it is identified as more pro-Western. Take the example of the Beijing Olympics in the past, there were not that many people from China who would attend either Winter or Summer Olympics elsewhere in the world. FIFA and the World Cup is an international sport, which I feel would cause more Middle Easterners to attend the event. Why would you not go and see the event in your "backyard"? Also, won't all the officials, groundskeepers, food vendors, and all the other ground people be Middle Easterners and probably Muslim? Of course extremists are also willing to kill pro-Western Middle Easterners, but at the end of the day there are less likely to attack the event. This is probably their first opportunity to give themselves a good spotlight in recent memory. I am sure they will make the most of it. It is not saying extremists will attend as they are already going to "Meca", but normal everyday Middle Easterners may very well attend.
I think that hosting the World Cup in Qatar is great, but I'd have liked the United States to host it in 2022 because I want to see it live. I've been watching soccer ever since I was a little girl because my dad is a die hard fan and so is the rest of my family since we come from Argentina, and our primary sport is soccer. I wish Qatar the best of luck in hosting such an AMAZING event which is enjoyed by people all over the world!! :)
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