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Australia is really in with a great chance of hosting the World Cup in 2022, with most experts seeing it as a two way battle between Australia and the USA.
Most Australians are hoping for an FFA victory and the WC to be staged right here in our own great country, but we must be prepared to look at the possibility of not winning it. And if you look closely, the down side isn’t that bad really, especially for FIFA and the future of the game worldwide – which is still one of the sport’s major strengths – its global presence and worldwide appeal.
The 2022 WC will still be on – it just won’t be played here in Australia, so we still get to enjoy it wherever we are. And I for one am planning a big trip to the UK in 2018 if England get the nod – nothing wrong with that and who knows we might even end up in the US in 2022.
If the decisions for hosting FIFA 2018 and 2022 goes with the favoured nations, then FIFA is in for one almighty financial bonanza.
2014 is to be held in Brazil and if 2018 is in England and 2022 in the USA, these are the three countries that would generate the maximum interest in a WC and the greatest amount of revenue.
Football crazy South America and Brazil in particular, will put on one of the greatest World Cup parties ever staged. All games would be very well attended and interest in the tournament will be massive with the Jogo bonito boys set to do well with their brilliant entertaining brand of football.
And England too is a great footballing nation and the home of the game and the Football Association. Also being so close to the rest of Europe, England 2018 will be a great football tournament and a guaranteed financial success story.
And then 2022 in the US. USA 94 still holds the record for the most number of spectators – average and aggregate and is the largest revenue generator of all the WCs staged so far.
With the growth of the game in the last 16 years since then and the improved standing of the US national team and interest in the WC – the USA is set to smash their own records and generate billions of dollars in revenue for FIFA and the US Football associations.
If you had to sit down and pick the three countries to host the biggest and most successful world cups these would be the three that most would choose – Brazil, England and the USA.
If that were the case, FIFA stands to make an enormous financial bonanza with the next three WCs played in countries with huge numbers of football spectators generating an absolute fortune for FIFA.
With the recent vote rigging scandals highlighting the financial and resource restricted inequalities of poorer football federations like Oceania and Africa, it will lead to a lot of that FIFA booty being spent developing the game further and boosting the sport in less fortunate regions like Asia, Oceania and Africa.
FIFA will re-invest their profits and countries like Australia will benefit from more FIFA financial assistance and technical development. It will also lead to greater participation in FIFA technical improvements and sharing of financial and technical resources around the football world.
It will also lead to more favourable decisions about developing football facilities and academies all around the world and will benefit Australia enormously as well, especially youth development programs here and in Asia and the expansion of Asian and world youth tournaments and prize money.
If Australia is not granted the WC of 2022, it will also mean that the FFA and the federal government will not have to hand out hundreds of millions of dollars to its biggest sporting rivals in compensation, nor have to spend billions redeveloping AFL grounds for Andrew Demetriou.
But at the same time the FFA and Australian football will benefit from the enormous injection of funds in the global game and the improved product, interest and revenues it will generate all around the world.
Prize money for FIFA competitions will jump significantly as well.
Not to mention the growing number of junior football initiatives that will be launched by FIFA to attract even more youngsters to the game.
Sure it would be our wish to have the 2022 FIFA WC staged here, but the decision not going to Australia has some silver linings too, especially for FIFA and world football.
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