Russia/Qatar to host 2018/2022 FIFA World Cup

[cowcommander]

Source: NYT

The future of soccer tilted dramatically eastward Thursday as FIFA, the ruling body of the global game, announced that the 2018 World Cup tournament finals would be held in Russia, with the 2022 finals going to Qatar.

Go to the Goal Blog.“This is new land,” announced Sepp Blatter, the president of the all-male 22 member committee that made the selections. “Never has a World Cup gone to the east of Europe, never to the Middle East,” he added. “And Arabia has been waiting.”

Both choices surprised the glittering audience of politicians, royalty, celebrities and even a few soccer players gathered in an auditorium in Zurich to hear the decisions. It was the first time that FIFA had chosen the hosts for two events together.


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/03/sports/soccer/03iht-soccer.html

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...and Putin says thank you from the bottom of his heart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8tnqyTVdQ4&

[regnaD kciN]

1. And Qatar has already announced...

...that, if the Israeli national team qualifies for the '22 WC, they'll be allowed to play. Awfully big of them...

[Odin2005]

2. Qatar should be out of the question simply because it's too hot.

Soccer when it's, like, 115 degrees out? ARE THEY NUTS?

[iandhr]

3. I would say because

Their country is smaller the the state of CT.

[sledgehammer]

7. I would say because....

1) They received the worst rankings in the FIFA bid evaluation.
2) The oppressive heat sucks for the players and the visitors.
3) They have the lowest number of total seats available of any bid, about half the US offered.
4) Their team has never come close to qualifying for the World Cup, gone only once beyond the first round in 7 Asian Cup appearances, and the country has a poorly developed domestic league.
5) Their population is just 1.7 million (of which only 1/5th are Qataris) - the total attendees need to be almost double that number to fill up the stadiums for each match, so the reliance on tourists will be unprecedented, and the country can in no way support the potential influx.
6) There's very little in terms of tourism/culture for visitors, particularly due to the small size and population of the country. And the beaches will be empty because of the heat.
7) There are going to be some problems with alcohol sponsorship, availability, and consumption. They will allow it during matches and in special areas, but drunken fans in the streets (a common occurrence at any sports tournament) is going to be challenging.
8) The infrastructure being built to support the tournament (hotels, stadiums, metro, airport expansion, etc) is massive overkill for this tiny nation.
9) This so-called "cooling" technology doesn't exist yet (and will it cover training facilities?).

[Sky Lar]

4. They've already announced they will spend at least $60 billion

on solar powered air conditioned soccer fields.

The bigger problem is going to be obtaining alcohol in this little Muslim nation. Steve Nash, Canadian BB player and big soccer fan, has expressed his reservations about attending for that reason.

[iandhr]

6. When we hosted the cup

3.5 million tickets were sold thats more then the population of Qutar.

[underpants]

5. Russia is the richest nation in "Europe", Qatar has money to air condition a stadium

TCU is part of the Big East now - 1,700 from Ft.Worth to Syracuse- the women's tennis team with a Tuesday match at say Seton Hall...... money rules.