Who’s going to get them? Final presentations are being made at the moment.
In the running:
Host 2018:
Netherlands-Belgium
Spain-Portugal
England
Russia
Host 2022:
Australia
South Korea
Qatar
USA
Japan
Ideally I would like England and Australia to win but i’m not sure how things will go. I can’t see SK or Japan getting 2022 as they only hosted it in 2002, also SK may not exist in 2022 if their northern neighbours have anything to do with it. It’s tough to see Qatar being able to host such a huge global event so I think 2022 will be between USA (who had it in 1994 but have some good stadiums) and Australia who have never had it.
2018 is much more open I think, any of the contenders could win it and probably do a decent job of it.
If anyone wants to follow proceedings the BBC have a decent commentary on events at this linky. Decision to be announced at 1500 GMT.
Obviously I would like England to win, but really I just hope it isn’t Russia for 2018.
I went to the Champions League final in Moscow 2.5 years ago and I couldn’t imagine a worse place to host such vast numbers of fans. There were last minute Visa panics, with Russia being unclear until the last minute whether we needed visas or not, there was a gross absence of accommodation, with fans having to bunk up in private homes, there were more police and army on the streets (plus tanks) than fans which felt very intimidating, the stadium was woefully outdated, transport to Russia a nightmare, with stories of people having to buy cars and drive them across Europe to get there. They don’t even have a tourist information office in the whole of Moscow.
And this was just for one match. Really, I can’t imagine a worse place for it.
Russia are apparently offering free public transport for ticket holders and have said there is no need for visas. Of course this is only really a good thing if there is sufficient public transport. The money spent leading up to hosting a World Cup should be sufficient to sort out most of the problems, you would hope so anyway.
For 2022, I’m flabbergasted that Qatar is actually getting serious consideration. Tiny country where it’s 40 C. and, oh yeah, no alcohol. Oz is a great place, but the time zone doesn’t really align well with Europe or the Americas endangering FIFA’s TV money cash cow. I think that leaves the US bid in the pole position, but then again, I think a lot of people think that 2022 is too soon to go back to the country that had it in 1994. (In addition, excluding Chicago as one of the potential cities is a mind boggling omission.)
Well, you would hope so, although it seems a bit odd to me to award it to a country that would really have to start from scratch on building stadiums, hotels etc when the other three contenders are already well set up for it.
For 2018, I think Netherlands-Belgium could put on a good show although the location doesn’t really incite much excitement. Spain-Portugal would, I’m sure, put on a fabulous event - they have the stadiums, the football passion and achievement to get everyone excited, the accommodation and transport thanks to their large tourists industries. My only black mark would be the heat.
I’m biased, but think England has the history/stadiums/infrastructure to rival Spain-Portugal but without the searing summer heat.
As for 2022, it look like a much weaker pack. Japan/SK had it very recently in world cup terms and, let’s face it, no one wants to play in 50C heat in Qatar. Both Australia and the USA would put on a great show, but there’s no football interest to speak of in Australia and it’s too small a market for FIFA to be interested in developing, plus the time zone difference for most major footballing regions of the world puts a dampener on the excitement factor. I’ll give my nod to the USA.
A second black mark could be the rampant racism in Spanish football, something which wouldn’t go down too well when hosting a world event and inviting people from the four corners of the globe.
I naturally would want it in my backyard (Netherlands) but would also be fine with England. As long as it isn’t Russia really. For 2022 I’d like it to be Australia, Korea and th US had it fairly recently and I think we all remember how awesome the Sydney Olympics were.
Spanish football is notoriously and shockingly racist - when England played there a couple of seasons back the whole stadiums was making monkey chants at our black players.
If it’s the same as for the Champions league final, then it will be ticket holders who get visa-free travel. Of course, there’s a lot more people travel to the host country than actually attend games, so there would still be a nightmare rush to get visas, I imagine.
Does the fact that both Netherlands/Belgium and Portugal have hosted a European Championship more recently than England (2000, 2004, and 1996 respectively) help us at all?
The recent BBC Panorama program highlighting corruption in the selection process will probably not do England any favors. But England does have lots of stadiums (stadia?).
I’d honestly be surprised if two English-speaking countries get the nod in consecutive four-year groups. It seems to me that the USA is far ahead of a relatively weak pack for 2022. If that’s the case it doesn’t bode well for England, and in that event Spain/Portugal would be the stronger bid.
But I think FIFA will go for Netherlands/Belgium even so.
Ah, that’s not racism… that’s “call the other guy whatever’s going to piss him more-ism”. It’s rage tactics. If our guys heard that being called frogs pisses the English off, next time there was a Spanish-England, they’d be yelling “hey frogs” and holding up Kermit dolls.
