Blatter admits Qatar World Cup 'mistake'

[PurpleCanary 5,557]

[quote user="Bethnal Yellow and Green"][quote user="ncfcstar"][quote user="Dubai Mark"]

As I mentioned a couple of months ago, I met somebody senior from one of the comapnies involved in the Air Con solution for the World Cup and he said that they are not close to coming up with anything that can get the temperature down far enough yet, he said it may happen. That said, 35 degrees indoors is still not suitable to play 90 minutes in or watch it as a supporter.

The solution is simple, they move it to the winter, preferably January when the weather over here is ideal. I am not saying it would be a great World Cup but at least the games would take place in decent conditions....now, just what the fans will do in Qatar for a couple of weeks is the issue...its a tiny country, Muslim rules etc.......here in the UAE would work, just I guess....or, shared between Qatar, UAE, Oman and Bahrain perhaps...but Qatar is stretching it a bit..... its not all about state of the art stadia and money after all...... 

 

[/quote]But that is not a solution is it, a World Cup in January is a farce.[/quote]

 

Why? Most of the World would prefer a January World Cup - it''s only Europe that wouldn''t. And then Scandinavia and Russia would both prefer it to be in January.

 

The World Cup isn''t just for the benefit of Western European countries and the sooner the administrations and fans in those countries get over their entitlement the better. Just because the World Cup has been in the summer up until now doesn''t mean it has to always be in the summer - if the competition is suppose to be global then it makes sense it has the flexibility to be held at different times of the year to suit people from different places in the world.

[/quote]

 

Bethnal, that''s fine. But in that case the bid has to be on the basis that it''s for  World Cup taking place during the northern hemisphere winter.

[*** 0]

All this fuss over a competition we probably won''t even qualify for.[:P]

[Bethnal Yellow and Green 1,557]

[quote user="PurpleCanary"][quote user="Bethnal Yellow and Green"][quote user="ncfcstar"][quote user="Dubai Mark"]

As I mentioned a couple of months ago, I met somebody senior from one of the comapnies involved in the Air Con solution for the World Cup and he said that they are not close to coming up with anything that can get the temperature down far enough yet, he said it may happen. That said, 35 degrees indoors is still not suitable to play 90 minutes in or watch it as a supporter.

The solution is simple, they move it to the winter, preferably January when the weather over here is ideal. I am not saying it would be a great World Cup but at least the games would take place in decent conditions....now, just what the fans will do in Qatar for a couple of weeks is the issue...its a tiny country, Muslim rules etc.......here in the UAE would work, just I guess....or, shared between Qatar, UAE, Oman and Bahrain perhaps...but Qatar is stretching it a bit..... its not all about state of the art stadia and money after all...... 

 

[/quote]

But that is not a solution is it, a World Cup in January is a farce.
[/quote]

 

Why? Most of the World would prefer a January World Cup - it''s only Europe that wouldn''t. And then Scandinavia and Russia would both prefer it to be in January.

 

The World Cup isn''t just for the benefit of Western European countries and the sooner the administrations and fans in those countries get over their entitlement the better. Just because the World Cup has been in the summer up until now doesn''t mean it has to always be in the summer - if the competition is suppose to be global then it makes sense it has the flexibility to be held at different times of the year to suit people from different places in the world.

[/quote]

 

Bethnal, that''s fine. But in that case the bid has to be on the basis that it''s for  World Cup taking place during the northern hemisphere winter.

[/quote]

 

Actually, bids do not make any mention of the exact time of the competition. This is left open to suit each nation (although it has always been hosted with only a week or twos difference either way), and is worked out at a later date. With the 2022 World Cup being decided in 2010 a lot of details were left open to be resolved later.

 

It is worth remembering that Tokyo only just learnt they will hold an Olympics in 2020, Qatar still has 9 years to prepare for the World Cup, there is no rush to make any decisions right now and plenty of time to adapt. A winter World Cup is the most sensible option and will be a landmark moment, when European dictation of International football ends (and about time).

[Tetteys Jig 830]

So if it is in the winter, (if it is going to stay in Qatar, it will be). How does that work for the premiership and the Champions league?

Would we have a 2 month break from the end of November to the end of January? Then continue the season through to July? Then give the players a 2 week summer!

All seems like a lot to sort out! How is that going to affect the likes of Nathan Redmond and the Murphy twins at us who will have 7 world cup games sandwiched in between 38 premiership games and 3 successful cup runs? That might end up adding up to 70 games!

What do the scandinavinan leagues etc do in world cup year?

Also, would it be at the start or the end of 2022?

As for the point of it being a big expensive circus, i''d far rather money was invested in giving it to India. They would benefit massively from having a world cup. You only have to see the IPL cricket to see the passion they have for sport and with this exposure to football, i reckon it would take off there.

[SwindonCanary 455]

Posted this on ''Football Junkie'' site, but I think it''s worth repeating, when talking about Qatar.As someone who has lived in Qatar, only 3 months, I would like to point

out that the heat does not effect most people, they go from their air

conditioned homes to their A/C cars, and straight into their A/C

offices. The place is very clean an tidy no mess anywhere, no problems !On

the down side, the people are called to prayer on a regular basis and

the whole world around you, stops ! you can''t even drive your car ! Mentioning

cars, there are thousands parked up but still with the engine running,

this is so they can get into a nice cool car(fuel costs very little)The

alcohol ban will be relaxed over the World Cup, visitors will have a

special permits and I can guarantee they will be checked !Homosexuality is a big no,no. so no holding hands guys !Just to sum up, IT''S THE BIGGEST OPEN PRISON IN THE WORLD !

[Syteanric 1]

the world cup will happen, the world will moan, money will be paid...

England wont Qualify.

most of us won''t give a shi*t

[GenerationA47 751]

I accept details are left open to the host nation, but for the climate and world scheduling reasons suggested above, I wouldn''t call the choice of time of year a "detail"! I do get the point about ''out with the old,'' etc. Anyway, how FIFA respond to their mistake is critical to their (alleged) credibility. 

[It's Character Forming 1,160]

Actually I can see a mid-winter World Cup working.  Start the PL season a bit early.  Then have a break for the tournament, our players wouldn''t be knackered at the end of the season (which would at least eliminate that as an excuse for failure) and it would be a change to have the World Cup on over December.  Then run the rest of the PL season, with the next year starting a bit late so players get a bit of a break.

The players who compete in the World Cup get hardly any break that year anyway, and for the ones who don''t, they''ll have a long break in the winter and a short break the following summer.

[ncfcstar 289]

[quote user="PurpleCanary"][quote user="Bethnal Yellow and Green"][quote user="ncfcstar"][quote user="Dubai Mark"]

As I mentioned a couple of months ago, I met somebody senior from one of the comapnies involved in the Air Con solution for the World Cup and he said that they are not close to coming up with anything that can get the temperature down far enough yet, he said it may happen. That said, 35 degrees indoors is still not suitable to play 90 minutes in or watch it as a supporter.

The solution is simple, they move it to the winter, preferably January when the weather over here is ideal. I am not saying it would be a great World Cup but at least the games would take place in decent conditions....now, just what the fans will do in Qatar for a couple of weeks is the issue...its a tiny country, Muslim rules etc.......here in the UAE would work, just I guess....or, shared between Qatar, UAE, Oman and Bahrain perhaps...but Qatar is stretching it a bit..... its not all about state of the art stadia and money after all...... 

 

[/quote]But that is not a solution is it, a World Cup in January is a farce.[/quote]

 

Why? Most of the World would prefer a January World Cup - it''s only Europe that wouldn''t. And then Scandinavia and Russia would both prefer it to be in January.

 

The World Cup isn''t just for the benefit of Western European countries and the sooner the administrations and fans in those countries get over their entitlement the better. Just because the World Cup has been in the summer up until now doesn''t mean it has to always be in the summer - if the competition is suppose to be global then it makes sense it has the flexibility to be held at different times of the year to suit people from different places in the world.

[/quote]

 

Bethnal, that''s fine. But in that case the bid has to be on the basis that it''s for  World Cup taking place during the northern hemisphere winter.

[/quote]"Most of the world" haven''t got anywhere near the same calibre of league, or league structure that we have in Europe, especially in England.  Europe holds sway in decisions like this because it is the most popular region for football worldwide, I don''t see anyone with a Chinese football shirt in England but I bet I could pick out plenty of English shirts in Shanghai.A break in the middle of the season could completely alter the outcome of the league, whichever one we''re in, as momentum will be lost and players could get injured.  It''s going to have to be at least 4 weeks of no league football which is ridiculous.  Do L1 and L2 continue whilst the PL and Championship have a break, or do fans of clubs in the lower leagues have to suffer too?  What if England don''t qualify and we wreck a couple of seasons just because we might have been playing in Qatar?  It''s a joke.The rest of the world wouldn''t have football, as we know it, without Europe, and we have the biggest leagues in the world.  Why shouldn''t we hold slightly more power than the rest of the world?  Yes FIFA is corrupt, the World Cup probably wouldn''t have been in Qatar if it wasn''t, but a lot of the corruption comes from FIFA committee members from parts of the world (at least the ones who''ve been caught) that you want FIFA to grant even more privileges to.

[Bethnal Yellow and Green 1,557]

[quote user="ncfcstar"][quote user="PurpleCanary"][quote user="Bethnal Yellow and Green"][quote user="ncfcstar"][quote user="Dubai Mark"]

As I mentioned a couple of months ago, I met somebody senior from one of the comapnies involved in the Air Con solution for the World Cup and he said that they are not close to coming up with anything that can get the temperature down far enough yet, he said it may happen. That said, 35 degrees indoors is still not suitable to play 90 minutes in or watch it as a supporter.

The solution is simple, they move it to the winter, preferably January when the weather over here is ideal. I am not saying it would be a great World Cup but at least the games would take place in decent conditions....now, just what the fans will do in Qatar for a couple of weeks is the issue...its a tiny country, Muslim rules etc.......here in the UAE would work, just I guess....or, shared between Qatar, UAE, Oman and Bahrain perhaps...but Qatar is stretching it a bit..... its not all about state of the art stadia and money after all...... 

 

[/quote]

But that is not a solution is it, a World Cup in January is a farce.
[/quote]

 

Why? Most of the World would prefer a January World Cup - it''s only Europe that wouldn''t. And then Scandinavia and Russia would both prefer it to be in January.

 

The World Cup isn''t just for the benefit of Western European countries and the sooner the administrations and fans in those countries get over their entitlement the better. Just because the World Cup has been in the summer up until now doesn''t mean it has to always be in the summer - if the competition is suppose to be global then it makes sense it has the flexibility to be held at different times of the year to suit people from different places in the world.

[/quote]

 

Bethnal, that''s fine. But in that case the bid has to be on the basis that it''s for  World Cup taking place during the northern hemisphere winter.

[/quote]

"Most of the world" haven''t got anywhere near the same calibre of league, or league structure that we have in Europe, especially in England.  Europe holds sway in decisions like this because it is the most popular region for football worldwide, I don''t see anyone with a Chinese football shirt in England but I bet I could pick out plenty of English shirts in Shanghai.

A break in the middle of the season could completely alter the outcome of the league, whichever one we''re in, as momentum will be lost and players could get injured.  It''s going to have to be at least 4 weeks of no league football which is ridiculous.  Do L1 and L2 continue whilst the PL and Championship have a break, or do fans of clubs in the lower leagues have to suffer too?  What if England don''t qualify and we wreck a couple of seasons just because we might have been playing in Qatar?  It''s a joke.

The rest of the world wouldn''t have football, as we know it, without Europe, and we have the biggest leagues in the world.  Why shouldn''t we hold slightly more power than the rest of the world?  Yes FIFA is corrupt, the World Cup probably wouldn''t have been in Qatar if it wasn''t, but a lot of the corruption comes from FIFA committee members from parts of the world (at least the ones who''ve been caught) that you want FIFA to grant even more privileges to.
[/quote]

 

Wah! Wah! Football is English, we should have control! Wah!

 

Football is the world''s largest sport and it should stop being so focused on Europe and South America. There are far more football fans outside of Europe than inside it, the fact European leagues have more popularity is immaterial in my opinion - the fact that most of the leagues already take a winter break, which could be lengthened and replace by the world cup really isn''t that much of a problem. I fully expect the English Leagues to be operating a winter break in January by 2022 - the number of games cancelled in recent seasons has risen fairly quickly due to changing climate and in a few years time it will be easier to take a break than attempt to catch up games in the middle of the season.

 

If the Premier League or La Liga or anyone else are getting upset that people outside of Europe are interested in football,  who might like the chance to have a world cup in their country or at least somewhere close by, they should stop taking the billions of pounds/euros they recieve in revenue from them. Football is a global game and the governance should represent that and whilst I know there has been corruption involved, no one has ever come up with conclusive evidence of the large scale corruption many claim - despite many news organisations offerring massive sums of money to potential whistle blowers. The only person to ever come forward quickly retracted their statement and admitted it was a lie.

 

The cold hard fact is that Qatar 2022 was the best of a bad bunch on bids back in 2010, the levels of corruption many talk about in regards to FIFA are hugely overblown (especially when it comes to Blatter who didn''t even vote in the World Cup bids) - there is a unpleasant lobbying culture, but you would struggle to find any comparable organisation that doesn''t suffer from that. I was covering the bid proccess at the time, and was sitting in the room when the announcments were made, and whilst Qatar certainly wasn''t the favourite going into the process, by the time the envelope was opened it felt like a foregone conculsion.

 

 

[smooth 114]

A winter break in the uk is ridiculous, we cannot guarantee when the bad weather will be, it can be from November through to march.

You can guarantee we would have the Winter break and a mild period and then when we go back to playing the ice and freezing temperatures would return.

Qatar can easily hold this world cup

[Bill 1,788]

You are talking absolute nonsense Bethnal, and well you know it. You complain that the World Cup should not be dominated or dictated to by Europe. That it should  played in the winter, instead of the summer. Yet when in the winter ? During the winter break some of the countries take. If that is so then Europe is still dictating. If not then you will have a situation where some countries will have both a World Cup and a winter break.Further, your claims about more games lost is a absurd. With more undersoil heating and better pitches far less games are lost. What has happened is that the varying weather patterns have meant thatwhat games that are lost are now spread from November to February. Which means that it would be impossible to set out a winter break. The actual idea that there would ever be a winter break is about as likely as returning to heavy leather footballs and hobnail boots.One positive out of this may well be that Europe takes a firmer grip on matters and ensures that the World Cup is based on merit not simply on the basis someone thinks it should be staged near to where they live. Football may well be a global game just as City have countrywide support. But it doesn''t mean that we should play our ''home'' games in obscure parts of the country just to pander to fans who don''t live close by Carrow Road. Nor does it mean that our support is diminished because of that fact. Likewise should we as a club stop taking the money from those fans who watch us on the TV, because we don''t play our home games near them ?Twisting the facts into emotive guff like "If the Premier League or La Liga or anyone else are getting upset that people outside of Europe are interested in football" merely reinforces the view that you have some gripe with football being Euro centric and so are obliged to put out a load of old bull in defence of that view.I would expect better of you, but you can never tell when someone has a blind spot.

[PurpleCanary 5,557]

It would be interesting to know if someone has worked out a schedule for how this would operate. A World Cup nowadays lasts four weeks (2010 was June 11 to July 11) and managers are bound to want their players some weeks in advance of that for a training camp. And players will need a break afterwards before going back to club football.A guess would be that the gap between club football stopping and starting again would be at least eight weeks and probably longer. Certainly longer than the kind of winter break that has been mooted in the past for bad weather/recuperation.So just in the World Cup season English league football would at best have to start in early/mid-July and finish in mid-June.

[Yellowbeagle 0]

[quote user="Houston Canary"]YB, supposedly the stadiums will be dismantled and rebuilt in sub-Saharan African countries. Why don''t people think the stadiums can be cooled to pleasant temps? We have domed stadiums here that have a/c units big and strong enough to keep them comfortable. New Orleans is hot and sticky but the Superdome (built in the 70s) is comcomfortable. I imagine Qatar has dry heat which will be easier to cool.[/quote]

Thanks Houston I didn''t realise that was the idea, what the hell are they building them out of, Lego?. Seriously however still seems crazy, if the world cup doesn''t leave some footballing infrastructure in the middle east what is the point in holding it there, which is also why I don''t get holding it in a country that has a population of only 2 million. I understand FIFA wanting to hold a tournament so that''s it''s been affectively held in all parts of the world but if the bigger countries in that region arnt up to holding a world cup it should wait until they are. Just because Qatar have enough money and are stable enough to hold it doesn''t mean they should.

[It's Character Forming 1,160]

Actually I can see this working.  This summer the season ended on 19 May and restarted mid-August, and 8 weeks out for the World Cup should be ample for a couple of weeks before the tournament and another couple afterwards.  So if the season started in mid-July, and is extended to mid-June, that gives the 8 weeks needed.  And of course there would be fewer international breaks than this season so in reality it could be a couple of weeks shorter.

 

In a normal World Cup year, the season ends then the World Cup starts a few weeks later and runs to mid July, after which the players involved get a few weeks off before pre-season training. 

 

I can see this happening guys, if only to spare Fifa''s blushes for such a daft decision.

[PurpleCanary 5,557]

[quote user="Its Character Forming"]

Actually I can see this working.  This summer the season ended on 19 May and restarted mid-August, and 8 weeks out for the World Cup should be ample for a couple of weeks before the tournament and another couple afterwards.  So if the season started in mid-July, and is extended to mid-June, that gives the 8 weeks needed.  And of course there would be fewer international breaks than this season so in reality it could be a couple of weeks shorter.

 

In a normal World Cup year, the season ends then the World Cup starts a few weeks later and runs to mid July, after which the players involved get a few weeks off before pre-season training. 

 

I can see this happening guys, if only to spare Fifa''s blushes for such a daft decision.

[/quote]

 

Not sure that is true. International managers would want to play "friendlies" beforehand and afterwards qualification for Euro 2016 would start.

[Houston Canary 0]

YB, good stuff! I agree completely with you re: the idiocy of holding a major event in such a small place.

I''ve always thought the dismantling idea seemed ridiculous, and sending them to Africa strikes me as condescending. But that''s what I read when the bid was first selected as the best. I shook my head then and continue to do so.

[Bill 1,788]

"Actually I can see this working.  This summer the season ended on 19 May and restarted mid-August, and 8 weeks out for the World Cup should be ample for a couple of weeks before the tournament and another couple afterwards.  So if the season started in mid-July, and is extended to mid-June, that gives the 8 weeks needed"

 

8 weeks in which Championship clubs will have to go without the income stream of casual ticket sales/food and drink sales etc.

No explanation as to what would happen to the FA Cup or League Cup.

No explanation as to what would happen to any games lost before the 8 week break.

 

No grasp of the implications of having player contracts running out on 30th June leaving a bare couple of weeks before the season starts - or that many players will begin playing in mid July right through to the following mid June ...11 months solid playing.

 

All this because of a totally ridiculous and impractical decision made by some very, very dubious voting.

 

This isn''t the tale wagging the dog. It is the flea on the tail wagging the dog.

 

 

 

[Syteanric 1]

Australia came 2nd in the voting if i remember correctly, they probably have the infrasturcture to hold it tomorrow.

[Bethnal Yellow and Green 1,557]

[quote user="jas the barclay king"]Australia came 2nd in the voting if i remember correctly, they probably have the infrasturcture to hold it tomorrow.[/quote]

 

Australia came last, with only 1 vote. They wanted to use cricket, rugby and aussie rules football stadiums - but the aussie rules football association said they weren''t allowed to use them as it would be during their regular season. The one vote they did get was very generous considering how bad their bid was.

[Jonzey 0]

It''s taken him this long to realise playing a World Cup in summer in Qatar is a mistake?! I knew this before FIFA made the decision.

 

How slow is he? And just how much was contained in that brown envelope?

 

 

[The Masked Raccoon 0]

Why not keep the season going throughout and treat it like the African Nations? Make sure the home nations fluff the qualifying and for the greater good of our national game, the Premier League teams will have more home nation players that season (or other players from weaker teams around the globe).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note: Tongue in cheek