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It is no secret that a fair majority of Australian football fans are quietly confident that Australia will host the 2022 FIFA World Cup. However, as details and bid books are released, Qatar 2022 has emerged as the Dark Horse bid.
Many rumours have been dug out of the ground on this bid. However, most have not been denied, nor proven. Could this be the face of the future?
Qatar 2022.
What has Qatar got over Australia? Which will be the better host of the world’s largest sporting event? Will Qatar progress on politics? The latter question is surely plausible with the heads of the sport seemingly easily excited by each bid, an strong example being the head of the AFC, Mohammed Bin Hammam, who has stated that he is throwing his support behind the Qatari bid.
Recently FIFA President Sepp Blatter has also thrown his support behind the Arabic nation’s bid.
What has Australia got over Qatar? Australia pips Qatar in the fields of infrastructure and the standard of domestic football. However, Qatar brings one strong card to the table.
National support.
Now I am not relating this statement to the nation’s government, as obviously all bid teams have Government support, but the Qatar bid, as do many, have no stiff opposition from other codes.
Football is the predominant football code in Qatar.
Still, Qatar’s bid has been plagued at length by several problems – the most controversial being Israel. The lengthy debate has taken many different viewpoints, but most noticeable is FIFA’s lack of opinion.
As it currently stands, the government heads of the Muslim state will allow Israel to take part in the tournament if it held in their country, despite not recognising them as a country. Other issues stated by the FIFA inspection board are, of course, alcohol and the weather.
On the issue of alcohol, Hassan Abdulla al Thawadi (Chief Executive of the Qatar World Cup Bid Team) has stated that the Muslim state is prepared to allow the sale of alcohol during the tournament, and that specialised fan areas will be created to sell alcohol.
So now the main issue for the bid team is the weather.
The FIFA World Cup is held in summer, a time where the temperature in Qatar reaches almost 40 degrees celsius. But instead of being a problem, this becomes Qatar’s number one selling point. And here’s why.
Qatar’s riches and technological advancement means that they are planning on presenting their drawcard: temperature control within the grounds.
And there is one last idea for Qatar 2022.
First mentioned in an ESPN Online article at the end of last year was that an all-indoor World Cup could be on the cards if Qatar were to win the rights to host the FIFA World Cup 2022. The last time a FIFA World Cup match was held indoors was USA 1994, who are also running to host the 2022 competition.
Whoever does eventually host the 2022 tournament, be it Australia, Qatar, USA, or any of the other bids, it is sure to be a revolutionary tournament.
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