World Cup stuff

I'm cool with Russia. Qatar... not so much. But eh, cool, I guess.

Im from Estonia originaly, neighbour of 2018 organizer, but I would have liked more central EU country for 2018 World Cup. Russia is a nation I'd rather not visit actually. It has everything to do with Putin pulling the strings on Georgia, Hodorkovski's corrupt life sentece, Politkovskaja murdering etc..

Well done to Russia and Qatar. Disappointing that we didn't get it, but we'll try again.

I'm fine with Russia, I need to see Qatar's presentation. Is there a link at all for this? I think alot of Americans are probably happy to not pay for it.

The only thing that will suck for me is that I probably can't watch the games seeing I'll be sleeping when it all happens.

How nice is it that Russia gets to host the 2014 Olympics AND the 2018 World Cup in the same decade?

I'm really really glad Qatar has won it. I'll definitely be there if I'm still alive

They really deserved it. In terms of bid, they had the best one. The USA's was all business. I do think that Australia was the closest competitor. They never hosted any World Cup and they can definitely host a major tournament.

USA got 94, Japan and Korea got 2002. So it's a bit unfair to other nations not to get it. Why should someone be able to get it twice in such a short time while others can host it?

Coasterfreek, here you can watch the presentation for the bid yesterday.

It runs at 35 mins, a bit long but I guess most of the technical presentation was at the first 20 mins.

They're making 12 air conditioned state-of-the-art stadiums which are carbon free AND then they'll give it away to developing countries

I'm seriously glad that Qatar are hosting the 2022 world cup. I'll be in my thirties, but it's the closest country that can host the World Cup.




I have such huge respect for this guy :star: making the dream of millions come true. (Pictured on the right of Blatter holding the Qatari flag)


There will be some idiotic press attacks starting from now. I hope they'll be ready for it. Someone from the AP asked an idiotic question about Uganda and Somalia making some trouble. And Prince Mohammed said that Uganda isn't even a part of the Middle East


I hope people will realize that football nowadays is much more than just a game. Hosting a huge event such as the world cup WILL improve this area in the world. I can already see several Gulf countries copying Qatar.

I personally am just glad that England did not win it just because we'll never hear the end of the umptheenth "this-is-gonna-be-England's-year." Although we hear it every Goddamn tournament, it'll be more often had they host the World Cup.

I'm disappointed that the US and A didn't win it. I thought it'll do good for football in that country.

What I personally love about this outcome is, it will finally give me the push to go visit those countries. Without the World Cup, I would probably never bothered going to South Africa, or Brazil, just because I don't have that adventurous DNA. But the World Cup will most definitely lure me in.

Nvm, I just read that temperatures in Qatar reaches 40-50 degree Celcius during summer.

I'm perfectly fine with Qatar winning. Weird to think that I'll be 32 by the time it happens. It will be interesting when millions flood such a tiny country, but I do think FIFA got it right. Sure I was hoping for USA, but it's not a huge deal to me. It would have been pretty whack to travel from the East Coast to the West coast to watch certain teams.

Regarding 2018, I'm just happy England didn't win it. Those English can be a bit snotty with Americans, and I was happy we at least drew with them last world cup.

Only concerns about Qatar will be weather and issues with women...Isn't it like in the 110s in summer?...The female issue will have to be properly addressed

Doesn't matter that I live in Australia, I'm not remotely nationalistic but seriously, fucking QATAR? I thought it would be the USA with Aus as it's only competitor.

Universe said:

Doesn't matter that I live in Australia, I'm not remotely nationalistic but seriously, fucking QATAR? I thought it would be the USA with Aus as it's only competitor.

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My sentiments exactly.

That is what will change with Qatar hosting it. You westerners/easterners stereotypical views about the GCCnations. No offence, but the Fox news watching brigade are brainwashed and everything that is reported is exaggarated. But thats for discussion in another forum.

It gets to 40-50 degrees yes, but do you think FIFA and the Qatari FA havent thought about a way to cool stadiums? They will take it to the next level, with the cooling technology and stuff and believe me, that world cup will be good. They are buidling 22 stadiums in a 16km radius(I might be wrong on the number of stadiums), a complete new township with its own transit system. FIFA is stupid, but they arent crazy. So Han, when you go to watch day 15 of the Wcup, you can watch all 3 games on the day. ALL of them. Its will be like a World Cup village. Crazy money will be spent, thekind of money England can only dream about.

Also the stadiums will be dismanteld and rebuilt in Africa again once the WCup ends.

About the women issue, well there will have to be a few changes made, but I know Qatar is tolerant and the whole reason of making a new township IMO is to make sure that not a lot of the "locals" arent offended or culture-shocked.

Alcohol is available already in the country and offcourse will not be as easy to get say as the UK or USA, but you can still have a nice cold beer while watching the game, the world cup wont be affected much.

That must be some cutting edge cooling technology to be employed

Thanks for the breakdown, Suneet...I suppose that does take a bit of the edge off

Michael, thats the thing. There are a lot of people living in these so called countries in the desert for years, they must have figured out a way of keeping cool dont you think? But everyone here is thinking that Qatar is Iraq but without the war.

What a disaster.

Russia got the lowest FIFA grade of all the countries regarding infrastructure, stadia, advertising, etc.

Qatar. What a joke. All the sites within 16 km. Good look finding places for all the fans, teams, etc. A congestion disaster waiting to happen. Cooling open stadiums by 20 degrees Celcius? And the walkways to the stadiums? And the training pitches? That'll be eco-friendly. And it better not falter, or we'll have cancelled games. 9 out of 12 stadiums are yet to be built. Not to mention the women's rights issues, the fact that homosexuality is illegal, and that alcohol is illegal.

If FIFA didn't constantly threaten consequences against government interference, there would be so many bribery investigations so fast.

Adding to it the fact that votes are anonymous, bribery allegations will certainly flourish with Russia's selection...Not sure why anyone would be entirely surprised, Blatter et al have been riddled with scandal since he bribed his way into the position he currently holds

I'm not really all that bothered by Qatar, but Russia?

Fuck me with a baseball bat and call me Babe, that shit is finna suck.

Its On Man said:

What a disaster.

Russia got the lowest FIFA grade of all the countries regarding infrastructure, stadia, advertising, etc.

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It's still a new area which hasn't hosted the WC. Also, I don't think Russia's bid isn that bad.

Qatar. What a joke. All the sites within 16 km. Good look finding places for all the fans, teams, etc. A congestion disaster waiting to happen. Cooling open stadiums by 20 degrees Celcius? And the walkways to the stadiums? And the training pitches? That'll be eco-friendly. And it better not falter, or we'll have cancelled games. 9 out of 12 stadiums are yet to be built. Not to mention the women's rights issues, the fact that homosexuality is illegal, and that alcohol is illegal.

If FIFA didn't constantly threaten consequences against government interference, there would be so many bribery investigations so fast.

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As Suneet mentioned it's actually preferable for the fans to have such a small area. You can watch more matches than in the USA. Do you imagine traveling all the way to a country to watch the world cup and in the end you can't watch more games just cause it's on the other side of the country?

Remember it's in 12 years. There's a huge amount of time to get all of these issues addressed. Most of these issues are definitely just a matter of time.



Again, I'm really happy the USA didn't win. Their bid only benefited FIFA. They got their shot at improving "soccer" popularity there at 94 and they missed it why should they get another shot? All the other bids are more exciting for fans IMO. Qatar, Aussie, Japan and Korea are all interesting bids. I thought Japan's idea of showing games at 400 stadiums was magnificent. Shame that this technology wasn't available in 2002.

You guys seriously need to watch Qatar's bid presentation. It's no surprise they won.

Let me summarize some points here because I know you guys are too lazy to watch it's from the bid video and other documents I've read:

- Temperature controlled open air stadiums which reduce the temperature by 20c degrees, using solar power only, and are fully carbon-neutral (0 emissions).

- This cooling technology will be distributed for free to all nations, especially those in poor conditions and hot climates

- They will build 12 stadiums which is more than enough for the tournament, but here's the kicker: All stadiums will be modular. After the tournament, Qatar doesn't need them, so they will be dismantled and donated to developing nations for free.

- The world's most compact world cup: All stadiums will be in close proximity utilizing a high speed transportation network and new metro systems. Fans can attend up to 3 matches a day. This is a first for the World Cup.

- Will allow Alcohol openly even in fan zones, in direct contrast to Islamic law

- Will allow and even welcomes Israelis, in direct contrast to Arab view

- A $3 billion bridge and rail (longest causeway in the world) will be built to connect Qatar to Bahrain and allow travel between the two countries in 40 minutes.

- A fully dedicated airline (Qatar Airways) at FIFA's disposal. One of only six 5-star carriers in the world. It's completely state owned so no business complications, they wave a finger and planes fly to bring fans from any country in the world.

- A world central timezone - no single country will have to wake up early or stay up late, the matches will be shown during prime time for mostly everyone in the world.

- 0% crime rate

- A complete dual optical network to support whatever broadcast technology we have in 12 years... Virtual reality... holodeck... I dunno. Maybe I'll finally buy a 3D TV

- They will invest $43 billion in infrastructure, including a whole new airport, new rail network, new metro, and 84,000 hotel rooms. (FIFA reqyested 60,000). That's not even considering stadium costs and other costs. Revenue from tickets is just $2.8 billion and indirect revenue to the region will be less than $10 billion - these guys don't care about money, they will spend billions to make it amazing.

- A personal guarantee by the ruling family to spend billions of dollars. Thee guys will be here in 12 years. They cannot be voted out by democracy or replaced. There is no instability or politics. They are the rulers and they control everything. They personally created and presented the entire bid.

Now contrast that with USA's bid which was just based on their political power and Morgan Freeman's voice, or Australia's Kangaroo disaster and you'll see why Qatar won.

In a way, Qatar's bid was the complete opposite of England's bid. England said they are ready to host a World Cup tomorrow - they don't need to change anything as all the stadiums and infrastructure are there. Qatar on the other hand will transform an entire country with the power of oil and gas money to host one event and impress the hell out of the world. Imagine every single road, person, building, plane, or factory dedicated to the purpose of making the World Cup a success regardless of cost. That's why Qatar won.

Ah looks like a few posts came in while I was writing that. I think I addressed all the concerns except woman rights: Woman's bid team was headed by a woman. She's not just a showcase, they take woman's rights more seriously than I've seen in some western countries.

Everyone's entitled to their opinions, but if anyone wants to object you really need to study all the documents, watch all the videos, and do some research to absorb what the FIFA team have been doing for months. 5 minutes online isn't going to create an informed decision.

The stadium cooling technology isn't just a promise - they ALREADY employed it in a stadium for testing when the FIFA delegation came on September 14th. It reduced the temperature from 40c to 19c. Imagine what they can do after 12 years of perfecting this technology. I expect outdoor areas will be cooled as well.

Sorry to keep on going about this. Seriously guys, it's a very good thing. I usually hate Qatar because they are our enemy neighbors, but they blew everyone out of the water by being at least twice better.