Sepp Blatter - still time to move 2022 World Cup to the Winter

[R Mellie 0]

Interesting piece on the BBC football pages (http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23351824) -

 

Copied from there -

Fifa president Sepp Blatter is determined to switch the 2022 World Cup to the winter because of the intense Qatar summer heat.

 

The head of world football''s governing body plans discussions over the change, which would cause major disruption to various domestic leagues, with his executive committee in October.

 

He said: "We still have enough time.

 

Sepp Blatter believes there is still time to switch the 2022 World Cup to winter

"The executive committee will certainly follow my proposal. Then we will have dealt with the topic for good."

Temperatures can hit 50C in Qatar, with games scheduled to be played in air-conditioned stadiums.

But Blatter said: "The Fifa World Cup must be a festival of the people. But for it to be such a festival, you can''t play football in the summer.

"You can cool down the stadiums but you can''t cool down the whole country and you can''t simply cool down the ambience of a World Cup. The players must be able to play in the best conditions to play a good World Cup."

 

Speaking via video link, the head of Qatar''s organising committee, Hassan Al-Thawadi, told the conference in Austria: "If it''s a wish of the football community to have the World Cup in winter, then we are open to that."

 

Blatter said his change of heart had followed medical information about the effects of the heat on players.

"There has been a fresh medical investigation into what it would be like to play football there in the summer and we have to take into account the health, not of the spectators, but of the players," he told Sky Germany.

 

Moving the World Cup to the winter would significantly impact on the the European leagues. Many leagues outside Britain have a winter break but they would need a hiatus of at least six weeks to accommodate national teams preparing for, and playing at, the World Cup finals.

"We have to have the courage - that is Fifa''s executive committee - to play this World Cup in the winter and to start to work out now what impact this will have on the international calendar," Blatter added.

"It would only be for one year, afterwards you''d be back to the normal routine. But I will advocate that."

Qatar defeated bids from South Korea, Japan, Australia and the United States to win a ballot of Fifa''s 22 executive members for the right to host the 2022 World Cup.

 

Surely (or maybe not) the problem of playing, and watching for that matter, in such intense heat as described would have been factored into the considerations of the bids to host the World Cup?  The bids were for summer tournaments, and to my mind if the temperatures of any host country meant players and spectators would be at risk, then the bid should have been rejected.

 

It certainly sounds like Blatter has made his mind up.  I''m not too sure how I feel about a World Cup tournament being held mid-season, I like the European Championships and World Cups in the summer.  Obviously the health and wellbeing of players and spectators must be a priority (and I hope there would be a number of Norwich players involved), but if there is time to change the date of the World Cup in 2022, then there must also be enough time to consider and implement a different host country or countries?

[CaptnCanary 0]

The guy is an idiot. Surely they should have considered the temperatures before voting for Qatar. Oh, but that would have meant they could not accept any bribes...

[Tetteys Jig 851]

Forget moving it to winter, move it altogether. The fact it is in Qatar in the first place is a joke. If they really want to sell football to the middle east, i''d rather somewhere like Iran or India got it. There''s a few bigwigs in the game laughing all the way to the bank as a result of this while Qatar go about building the stadiums with poor building regulations and workers rights.

I feel this will be known as the blood world cup.

[First Wazzock 1,014]

Why have we got this far before they have decided to move the date of it? They knew it realistically would be too hot to play there in the summer, sounds like someone somewhere has trousered some serious dosh for this.

[Bethnal Yellow and Green 2,424]

[quote user="Jimmy Smith"]Forget moving it to winter, move it altogether. The fact it is in Qatar in the first place is a joke. If they really want to sell football to the middle east, i''d rather somewhere like Iran or India got it. There''s a few bigwigs in the game laughing all the way to the bank as a result of this while Qatar go about building the stadiums with poor building regulations and workers rights. I feel this will be known as the blood world cup.[/quote]

 

That is an interesting take on geography you have there.

 

By saying Qatar can''t have the world cup because it is too hot rules out a huge number of places in the world from every hosting a world cup. I did a lot of work on the coverage of the 2022 World Cup bid and to be honest, Qatar''s bid was by far the best - the other countries were incredibly sloppy and some didn''t have their respective Government''s backing the bid (a big no-no when it comes to mega-events).

 

The building regulation and workers rights are of course an issue (although the same problem was had for other world cups and Olympics)

 

Personally I think it is important that their is a world cup in the middle east, but for obvious reasons it can''t be in places such as Iran, Qatar has held other major sporting events well (nothing on the scale of the World Cup of course) and they will be able to deliver the World Cup - they still stick by the idea of air conditioned stadiums and fan areas. It''s worth remembering that during USA 94 temperatures on the pitches reached the mid 40s and in Japan they reached 41 with around 80% humidity.

[Tetteys Jig 851]

Middle East/ East i meant, basically where football isn''t that big.

[Bethnal Yellow and Green 2,424]

[quote user="Jimmy Smith"]Middle East/ East i meant, basically where football isn''t that big.[/quote]

 

Football is huge in countries like Iran, Syria, Jordan and Iraq. More people in Iran play football than in the UK.

[paul moy 235]

Corrupt chickens coming home to roost. No doubt this will be moved as the only reason it was given was due to the bribery of officials IMO. It made no sense at the time even with mooted aircon stadia, and certainly no sense now as they backtrack and realise the whole idea was stupid !!!!!

[Old Shuck 291]

Blatter and his FIFA cohorts are screwing football for all it is worth. They would have known in advance that the Summer in Qatar would have made playing it there impossible, they would, in that case, almost certainly have come to an advance agreement with the football authorities there that they would, once the decision is made, arrange to "discover" after doing some "research" that playing it as the traditional Summer tournament it is, would be impossible and that they''d decide to run it during the Winter instead.

 

The plan would always have been to play it in the Winter-if he and FIFA seriously think that they''ve only now realised the impracticalities of holding it in the Summer then they either clearly think the rest of the footballing world is stupid or they don''t actually give a flying one for the rest of the footballing world and will do whatever the hell they want. I strongly favour the second option.

 

Playing it in the Winter will mean two big international tournaments being held that Winter as there is also scheduled to be a Winter Olympics in 2022. What if their preferred time clashes with that, are they going to pay the IOC a bribe to ''move'' their dates-interestingly a provisional schedule for the dates for same has not yet been released even though they normally are even before the hosts have been chosen.

 

Holding it in the Winter will disrupt playing seasons for something like ten weeks or more-two weeks preparation, four weeks tournament, two weeks recovery time. How about the nations that don''t qualify? You normally get at least one large UEFA nation and one from South America who don''t qualify-are they meant to cancel their domestic seasons to help facilitate a tournament that those associations has no interest in? Then there will be a knock on effect for the preceding and succeeding seasons-in other words, Blatter''s nice big earner is, for the sake of him hauling his carcass in front of the worlds TV cameras for a few weeks, going to affect domestic football and the players all over the world-not just in Europe.

 

It would be nice to think UEFA would take a stand and indicate that it will withdraw all of its member associations from the tournament if the insistance on playing in the Qatari winter is continued. How the hell are FIFA going to sanction else punish UEFA, they are the very association that is its financial and footballing bedrock.

 

As has been already stated, there are numerous other nations that could have been awarded the tournament under his pretext of "taking it to the world"-as we have seen, however, Russia and Qatar have the necessary means of financial, ahem, assistance where such decisions are concerned, where-as the likes of India, Australia and New Zealand and Indonesia seemingly do not.

 

A Riyal is as good, if not, better, than a Rupee to a blind Blatter.

 

[birchfest 401]

Get ready for the Fa ans it''s German, Spanish, French and Italian counterparts to come out and say we won''t send teams as a result of the disruption and then nothing happen. The whole Qatar World Cup idea has been a joke from its very corrupt beginnings,

[Jonzey 0]

In think the problem is that Sepp Blater is an utter cock and his cronies are all corrupt (allegedly).

To play the World Cup in the summer in Qatar was never a viable option. The plan all along was clearly to accept the bribe money, leave the sh!tstorm a year or two to subside, then suddenly ''realise'' ''whoa hang on a minute, 50c temperatures in summer?? We can''t let the supporters bake, for their own good we''d better move the tournament to Winter! Aren''t we thoughtful?''

Utter tossers.

[PurpleCanary 6,386]

[quote user="Bethnal Yellow and Green"]

[quote user="Jimmy Smith"]Forget moving it to winter, move it altogether. The fact it is in Qatar in the first place is a joke. If they really want to sell football to the middle east, i''d rather somewhere like Iran or India got it. There''s a few bigwigs in the game laughing all the way to the bank as a result of this while Qatar go about building the stadiums with poor building regulations and workers rights. I feel this will be known as the blood world cup.[/quote]

 

That is an interesting take on geography you have there.

 

By saying Qatar can''t have the world cup because it is too hot rules out a huge number of places in the world from every hosting a world cup. I did a lot of work on the coverage of the 2022 World Cup bid and to be honest, Qatar''s bid was by far the best - the other countries were incredibly sloppy and some didn''t have their respective Government''s backing the bid (a big no-no when it comes to mega-events).

 

The building regulation and workers rights are of course an issue (although the same problem was had for other world cups and Olympics)

 

Personally I think it is important that their is a world cup in the middle east, but for obvious reasons it can''t be in places such as Iran, Qatar has held other major sporting events well (nothing on the scale of the World Cup of course) and they will be able to deliver the World Cup - they still stick by the idea of air conditioned stadiums and fan areas. It''s worth remembering that during USA 94 temperatures on the pitches reached the mid 40s and in Japan they reached 41 with around 80% humidity.

[/quote]

 

Why not, Bethnal?! But seriously, Iran is a democracy of sorts, whereas we had a World Cup in Fascist Italy in 1934 and another in Argentina in 1978 when the country was ruled by a murderous military junta. And we have had Olympics in Nazi Germany (with the public persecution of the Jews being cynically suspended for the duration - but only for the duration) and the not noticeably democratic Soviet Union..

[The Masked Raccoon 0]

It''s a joke that a country without any tradition of football got the World Cup after others. Knowing the heat, any time of the year there, will be a problem for players and fans.

 

Maybe the big European clubs will suddenly not qualify? Countries such as Luxembourg, San Marino and Malta make it to the finals. Make it more of a farce than it already is to show FIFA that Blatter hasn''t got a clue.

[Bethnal Yellow and Green 2,424]

[quote user="PurpleCanary"][quote user="Bethnal Yellow and Green"]

[quote user="Jimmy Smith"]Forget moving it to winter, move it altogether. The fact it is in Qatar in the first place is a joke. If they really want to sell football to the middle east, i''d rather somewhere like Iran or India got it. There''s a few bigwigs in the game laughing all the way to the bank as a result of this while Qatar go about building the stadiums with poor building regulations and workers rights. I feel this will be known as the blood world cup.[/quote]

 

That is an interesting take on geography you have there.

 

By saying Qatar can''t have the world cup because it is too hot rules out a huge number of places in the world from every hosting a world cup. I did a lot of work on the coverage of the 2022 World Cup bid and to be honest, Qatar''s bid was by far the best - the other countries were incredibly sloppy and some didn''t have their respective Government''s backing the bid (a big no-no when it comes to mega-events).

 

The building regulation and workers rights are of course an issue (although the same problem was had for other world cups and Olympics)

 

Personally I think it is important that their is a world cup in the middle east, but for obvious reasons it can''t be in places such as Iran, Qatar has held other major sporting events well (nothing on the scale of the World Cup of course) and they will be able to deliver the World Cup - they still stick by the idea of air conditioned stadiums and fan areas. It''s worth remembering that during USA 94 temperatures on the pitches reached the mid 40s and in Japan they reached 41 with around 80% humidity.

[/quote]

 

Why not, Bethnal?! But seriously, Iran is a democracy of sorts, whereas we had a World Cup in Fascist Italy in 1934 and another in Argentina in 1978 when the country was ruled by a murderous military junta. And we have had Olympics in Nazi Germany (with the public persecution of the Jews being cynically suspended for the duration - but only for the duration) and the not noticeably democratic Soviet Union..

[/quote]

 

Not so much the political issues (which FIFA are generally pretty good at skirting around) but more a financial problem - World Cups are for nations either cash rich, or going through the midst of a construction boom. However, with Iran moving away from it''s more radical leanings and if the new guy does as he promises then the opening up of trade to Iran could promote the kind of bomb a mega-event such as the World Cup could jump on board with - would suspect they would be wise to go for an Asian Cup tournament first though.

 

[Bethnal Yellow and Green 2,424]

[quote user="ITK Twitterer"]

It''s a joke that a country without any tradition of football got the World Cup after others. Knowing the heat, any time of the year there, will be a problem for players and fans.

 

Maybe the big European clubs will suddenly not qualify? Countries such as Luxembourg, San Marino and Malta make it to the finals. Make it more of a farce than it already is to show FIFA that Blatter hasn''t got a clue.

[/quote]

 

Japan and South Korea had no tradition of playing football but hosted an excellent World Cup, USA also had no tradition but did a good job - it is only fair that the World Cup is moved around the world rather than staying in the same old places. Germany 2006 was a well organised tournament but had none of the excitment that game from hosting the tournament in a country that is just beginning it''s love affair with football.

 

Anyway, as I said before football is HUGE in the middle east and the Qatar Wold Cup is more a tournament for the region rather than one country specfically.

[The Masked Raccoon 0]

[quote user="Bethnal Yellow and Green"][quote user="ITK Twitterer"]

It''s a joke that a country without any tradition of football got the World Cup after others. Knowing the heat, any time of the year there, will be a problem for players and fans.

 

Maybe the big European clubs will suddenly not qualify? Countries such as Luxembourg, San Marino and Malta make it to the finals. Make it more of a farce than it already is to show FIFA that Blatter hasn''t got a clue.

[/quote]

 

Japan and South Korea had no tradition of playing football but hosted an excellent World Cup, USA also had no tradition but did a good job - it is only fair that the World Cup is moved around the world rather than staying in the same old places. [/quote]

 

Japan and US have attempted to get into football/soccer before getting a World Cup. Rodney Marsh and co in the 70s going over to play/establish the game. Japan & South Korea also building up, like Lineker and others playing for Grampias 8. Qatar is completely different with no history of football. They might love the game to watch but it''s wealth moving the goal posts to make it a global circus.

[PurpleCanary 6,386]

[quote user="Bethnal Yellow and Green"][quote user="ITK Twitterer"]

It''s a joke that a country without any tradition of football got the World Cup after others. Knowing the heat, any time of the year there, will be a problem for players and fans.

 

Maybe the big European clubs will suddenly not qualify? Countries such as Luxembourg, San Marino and Malta make it to the finals. Make it more of a farce than it already is to show FIFA that Blatter hasn''t got a clue.

[/quote]

 

Japan and South Korea had no tradition of playing football but hosted an excellent World Cup, USA also had no tradition but did a good job - it is only fair that the World Cup is moved around the world rather than staying in the same old places. Germany 2006 was a well organised tournament but had none of the excitment that game from hosting the tournament in a country that is just beginning it''s love affair with football.

 

Anyway, as I said before football is HUGE in the middle east and the Qatar Wold Cup is more a tournament for the region rather than one country specfically.

[/quote]

 

Possibly true of Japan, Bethnal, although they qualified for the 1998 finals, but South Korea played in the finals in 1954, 1986, 1990, 1994 and 1998.

[Bethnal Yellow and Green 2,424]

[quote user="ITK Twitterer"][quote user="Bethnal Yellow and Green"][quote user="ITK Twitterer"]

It''s a joke that a country without any tradition of football got the World Cup after others. Knowing the heat, any time of the year there, will be a problem for players and fans.

 

Maybe the big European clubs will suddenly not qualify? Countries such as Luxembourg, San Marino and Malta make it to the finals. Make it more of a farce than it already is to show FIFA that Blatter hasn''t got a clue.

[/quote]

 

Japan and South Korea had no tradition of playing football but hosted an excellent World Cup, USA also had no tradition but did a good job - it is only fair that the World Cup is moved around the world rather than staying in the same old places. [/quote]

 

Japan and US have attempted to get into football/soccer before getting a World Cup. Rodney Marsh and co in the 70s going over to play/establish the game. Japan & South Korea also building up, like Lineker and others playing for Grampias 8. Qatar is completely different with no history of football. They might love the game to watch but it''s wealth moving the goal posts to make it a global circus.

[/quote]

The J-League was established in 1992, the NASL was founded in 1968 (and folded within 20 years) and the MLS wasn''t formed until 1993. Qatar has had a constant proffessional league since 1964, and the oldest proffessional team was founded in 1950 - Al Sadd the biggest team in Qatar have won the Asian Champions League a couple of times.

 

Whilst it isn''t the most high profile of leagues, there is a strong tradition of proffessional football in Qatar, stars such as Guardiola, Batistuta and Frank De Boer have all played there (much like Rodney Marsh went to America and Linkear went to Grampus Eight).

 

As I said before the World Cup wasn''t pitched at just being Qatar''s world cup, but one for the entire Middle East, with Qatar best placed out of any country in the region to host the tournament (as they had already won the AFC Championship for 2011 and hosted the Asian Games in 2006). Show me any World Cup since 1994 that hasn''t been about wealth, the only exception has been the 2010 World Cup, which was widely critised for being in a country that couldn''t afford to host such a massive event.

[lake district canary 4,831]

The mention of the name Sepp Blatter (I can hardly bring myself to write it) fills me with a sense of  - "how on earth?"

How on earth - is he still there?  He has nil credibility (he lost that  years ago).  Year after year of poor decisions, mistakes, alleged corruption, lack of direction, inaction, ignorance and general treating both football clubs and the paying pubic as mugs.   Supported by inadequate yes men, he is an  institutionalised dictator in an area of sport that should have as its aims the well being of the sport, but all we get is a sense that he and his cronies are only interested in themselves, their power and their money.  Stinks as much as any governing body can stink.   The FA is bad enough, but Fifa, particularly with that man (I can''t write his name again) in charge are worse than a laughing stock.

[SwindonCanary 457]

Was this not considered whilst the officials were busy lining their pockets ?

[paul moy 235]

[quote user="Bethnal Yellow and Green"][quote user="PurpleCanary"][quote user="Bethnal Yellow and Green"]

[quote user="Jimmy Smith"]Forget moving it to winter, move it altogether. The fact it is in Qatar in the first place is a joke. If they really want to sell football to the middle east, i''d rather somewhere like Iran or India got it. There''s a few bigwigs in the game laughing all the way to the bank as a result of this while Qatar go about building the stadiums with poor building regulations and workers rights. I feel this will be known as the blood world cup.[/quote]

 

That is an interesting take on geography you have there.

 

By saying Qatar can''t have the world cup because it is too hot rules out a huge number of places in the world from every hosting a world cup. I did a lot of work on the coverage of the 2022 World Cup bid and to be honest, Qatar''s bid was by far the best - the other countries were incredibly sloppy and some didn''t have their respective Government''s backing the bid (a big no-no when it comes to mega-events).

 

The building regulation and workers rights are of course an issue (although the same problem was had for other world cups and Olympics)

 

Personally I think it is important that their is a world cup in the middle east, but for obvious reasons it can''t be in places such as Iran, Qatar has held other major sporting events well (nothing on the scale of the World Cup of course) and they will be able to deliver the World Cup - they still stick by the idea of air conditioned stadiums and fan areas. It''s worth remembering that during USA 94 temperatures on the pitches reached the mid 40s and in Japan they reached 41 with around 80% humidity.

[/quote]

 

Why not, Bethnal?! But seriously, Iran is a democracy of sorts, whereas we had a World Cup in Fascist Italy in 1934 and another in Argentina in 1978 when the country was ruled by a murderous military junta. And we have had Olympics in Nazi Germany (with the public persecution of the Jews being cynically suspended for the duration - but only for the duration) and the not noticeably democratic Soviet Union..

[/quote]

 

Not so much the political issues (which FIFA are generally pretty good at skirting around) but more a financial problem - World Cups are for nations either cash rich, or going through the midst of a construction boom. However, with Iran moving away from it''s more radical leanings and if the new guy does as he promises then the opening up of trade to Iran could promote the kind of bomb a mega-event such as the World Cup could jump on board with - would suspect they would be wise to go for an Asian Cup tournament first though.

 

[/quote]Iran is an extreme oppressive islamic state and certainly not a place where Americans, British, Dutch, French or Germans should go. ......and what if Israel qualify ??   I see bloodshed.  It will never happen.

[Rock The Boat 1,332]

[quote user="Bethnal Yellow and Green"]

[quote user="Jimmy Smith"]Forget moving it to winter, move it altogether. The fact it is in Qatar in the first place is a joke. If they really want to sell football to the middle east, i''d rather somewhere like Iran or India got it. There''s a few bigwigs in the game laughing all the way to the bank as a result of this while Qatar go about building the stadiums with poor building regulations and workers rights. I feel this will be known as the blood world cup.[/quote]

 

That is an interesting take on geography you have there.

 

By saying Qatar can''t have the world cup because it is too hot rules out a huge number of places in the world from every hosting a world cup. I did a lot of work on the coverage of the 2022 World Cup bid and to be honest, Qatar''s bid was by far the best - the other countries were incredibly sloppy and some didn''t have their respective Government''s backing the bid (a big no-no when it comes to mega-events).

 

The building regulation and workers rights are of course an issue (although the same problem was had for other world cups and Olympics)

 

Personally I think it is important that their is a world cup in the middle east, but for obvious reasons it can''t be in places such as Iran, Qatar has held other major sporting events well (nothing on the scale of the World Cup of course) and they will be able to deliver the World Cup - they still stick by the idea of air conditioned stadiums and fan areas. It''s worth remembering that during USA 94 temperatures on the pitches reached the mid 40s and in Japan they reached 41 with around 80% humidity.

[/quote]

In your capacity of covering the 2022 World Cup bid, were you or anyone you were working with able to put the question about the practicality of playing in 50 degree heat?

The question must have been raised at the time, so what was the response at the time?

[Dubai Mark 0]

Some observations and comment as an ex-pat living in the Middle East...

- Sure the money in Qatar made this happen and will make it happen (its a mega rich nation that doesnt know what to spend the money on!!), but many bids have been won under similar circumstances over the years in my opinion. But, make no mistake when the likes of a Qatar or a UAE bid for something they make a very good job of it......we now have Dubai for example red hot favourites to win the 2020 World Expo and they havnt skimp at all on their efforts to secure this event.  

- This is really not being considered as a World Cup for the Middle East......it''s a stand alone Qatar bid.......BUT, make no mistake a joint bid with a few other ME countries like the UAE and Oman, at the right time of year would have been far better, the UAE could easily have accomodate four or five venues and has all the other components required to make a great World Cup.

- The popularity of football in the Middle East......contrary to what many think football IS very popular in this region and has been for a long time both among locals (who follow a local professional side, plus are mad on other big clubs such as Real, Carcelona and Manure) and the multi cultural ex-pats (who would certainly help fill the stadiums). The main problem though on a local level is that the ex-pats dont tend to follow the local professional sides, but that will I am sure change.

- The summer weather IS simply to hot to play (or watch) football in......over recent weeks here in Dubai we have seen temperatures anywhere between 40 and 50 C, it can be slightly cooler in Qatar.....slightly. Also, as I mentioned a few weeks ago in another post, having met a contractor recently who is heavily involved in the Air Conditioning side of things for the World Cup........there is not yet a system available that could cope with keeping a large football stadium and the crowd at the right temperature (climate) with the type of outside climate we have in the ME......he said it maybe possible but is by no means certain .

But, regardless of that, to enjoy a World Cup you need other things to do in a decent outside climate.......just getting out of your taxi and walking a few hunderd hundred metres to the stadium would be a problem for many people in the summer!  

- Changing the date...aside of Blatter and his cronies original decision to award the tournament to Qatar being, shall we say "well dodgy", the time of year was the biggest mistake.......HUGE mistake!  Of course IF IT IS POSSIBLE the tournament must move to the winter, January would be ideal, terrific weather, may even get a little rain. Lets face it, there are many years to plan the rest of the football calender around this World Cup, even if it means two or three seasons are effected to accomodate a long winter break........they MUST do this!!  or.......

- Scrap the World Cup in Qatar.......and move it to England!  Yes, that would be my choice....but the problem is many contarcts have already been awarded on infrastructure. stadiums etc.....so its probably a little late to do that.

 

So, yes I agree....there is plenty of time to move the 2022 World Cup to the Winter 

    

[Juggy 0]

[quote user="lake district canary"]The mention of the name Sepp Blatter (I can hardly bring myself to write it) fills me with a sense of  - "how on earth?"How on earth - is he still there?  [/quote]

He was re-elected in 2011 because members had the choice between one candidate. Was the only name on the ballot paper! 

[Juggy 0]

[quote user="Dubai Mark"]

- The popularity of football in the Middle East......contrary to what many think football IS very popular in this region and has been for a long time both among locals (who follow a local professional side, plus are mad on other big clubs such as Real, Carcelona and Manure) and the multi cultural ex-pats (who would certainly help fill the stadiums). The main problem though on a local level is that the ex-pats dont tend to follow the local professional sides, but that will I am sure change.

[/quote]

Seeing as you live there (I assume), was wondering if you have ever gone and watched any of the local teams? I''ve never been to the UAE but I read that when Cisse went on loan to a UAE club from QPR he was playing in front of just a few hundred people.

Is this the case with all clubs, are they really all getting just a few hundred people at games? That''s why I was under the impression that football isn''t all that popular, although sure that will change when the likes of Messi and Ronaldo are in town.

I actually agree with much of the rest of your post in that Dubai is a good location (other than the ridiculous summer temperatures), they have all the infrastructure in place, plenty of hotels and lots to keep fans entertained when their team isn''t playing. 

And to be honest, I can''t see why a winter tournament should be such a big issue. There are actually plenty of leagues which have to their plans affected by summer tournaments, Scandinavia and the USA for example, so can''t see the harm in us having to take a month off for once. 

One concern that I would have however is the policing. Bound to be plenty of fans go and do something a little silly which might get them a night in the cells in England or France, but which will get them 18 months in a cell in Dubai??

[Kingston Yellow 259]

[quote user="Bethnal Yellow and Green"][quote user="ITK Twitterer"]

It''s a joke that a country without any tradition of football got the World Cup after others. Knowing the heat, any time of the year there, will be a problem for players and fans.

 

Maybe the big European clubs will suddenly not qualify? Countries such as Luxembourg, San Marino and Malta make it to the finals. Make it more of a farce than it already is to show FIFA that Blatter hasn''t got a clue.

[/quote]

 

Japan and South Korea had no tradition of playing football but hosted an excellent World Cup, USA also had no tradition but did a good job - it is only fair that the World Cup is moved around the world rather than staying in the same old places. Germany 2006 was a well organised tournament but had none of the excitment that game from hosting the tournament in a country that is just beginning it''s love affair with football.

 

Anyway, as I said before football is HUGE in the middle east and the Qatar Wold Cup is more a tournament for the region rather than one country specfically.

[/quote]

What the hell are you talking about Bethnal Green? What''s fair about bribes resulting in a World Cup being awarded to a country that''s completely irrelevant as far as football''s concerned? Wake up and smell the coffee.

I don''t care how fabulous the bid was. It was fundamentally flawed on two counts. First, Quatar has absolutely no footballing heritage. Two, 50c temperatures will result I fatalities. Supporters, players or both.

It''s bad enough listening to Blatters cr@p without our own lot joining in.

[Juggy 0]

[quote user="Kingston Yellow"][quote user="Bethnal Yellow and Green"][quote user="ITK Twitterer"]

It''s a joke that a country without any tradition of football got the World Cup after others. Knowing the heat, any time of the year there, will be a problem for players and fans.

 

Maybe the big European clubs will suddenly not qualify? Countries such as Luxembourg, San Marino and Malta make it to the finals. Make it more of a farce than it already is to show FIFA that Blatter hasn''t got a clue.

[/quote]

Japan and South Korea had no tradition of playing football but hosted an excellent World Cup, USA also had no tradition but did a good job - it is only fair that the World Cup is moved around the world rather than staying in the same old places. Germany 2006 was a well organised tournament but had none of the excitment that game from hosting the tournament in a country that is just beginning it''s love affair with football.

Anyway, as I said before football is HUGE in the middle east and the Qatar Wold Cup is more a tournament for the region rather than one country specfically.

[/quote]

What the hell are you talking about Bethnal Green? What''s fair about bribes resulting in a World Cup being awarded to a country that''s completely irrelevant as far as football''s concerned? Wake up and smell the coffee.

I don''t care how fabulous the bid was. It was fundamentally flawed on two counts. First, Quatar has absolutely no footballing heritage. Two, 50c temperatures will result I fatalities. Supporters, players or both.

It''s bad enough listening to Blatters cr@p without our own lot joining in.[/quote]

Agree about the corruption, crooks at the top of everything and he should have been ostracized and jailed. 

Not fair to say that UAE have no footballing history though, they played in Italy 1990 the best world cup since 1966  :)

Woy Hodgson was their manager once too. 

[Kingston Yellow 259]

No offence New Boy but we''re splitting hairs. The UAE have qualified for one World Cup Finals ever, where they lost all their 3 games.

[Juggy 0]

[quote user="Kingston Yellow"]No offence New Boy but we''re splitting hairs. The UAE have qualified for one World Cup Finals ever, where they lost all their 3 games.[/quote]

I was being a bit ironic, although I don''t think we should choose venues based on the quality of their national teams.... wouldn''t mind seeing a world cup in Scotland ;-) 

[Dicky 0]

Am I right in thinking that homosexuality is illegal in Qatar? If so, then surely that is an issue, with reportedly one in ten players being gay. (and no, I am not gay).