Going against its own technical committee’s report that said Qatar was not a suitable place to host a World Cup, FIFA exposed its seedy underbelly to the world by awarding the tournament to the tiny Middle Eastern nation.
Qatar is a nation of just 1.6 million people, spanning just 11,437 km2 (ranked the 163rd largest country in the world – behind the Falkland Islands), with only one major city (Doha), one airport, a questionable human rights record, and incredibly strict laws relating to alcohol consumption.
To think it is suitable place to host the largest sporting event in the world, over the United States of America, Japan, South Korea and Australia, is laughable. And it made their rise to favouritism and subsequent victory in the 2022 World Cup bidding race almost farcical as we watched it unfold.
FIFA’s independent technical team, which inspected all bidding countries, reported serious flaws in the Qatari bid; namely the heat of June/July and the size of the country and close proximity of stadiums – 10 of its 12 stadiums are within a 25-kilometre area.
“The fact that ten out of the 12 stadiums are located within a 25-30 kilometre radius could represent an operational and logistical challenge,” said FIFA’s report.
“The fact that the competition is planned in June/July, the two hottest months of the year in this region, has to be considered as a potential health risk for players, officials, the FIFA family and spectators, and requires precautions to be taken,” it continued.
Qatar will need to spend an enormous amount on its promised air-conditioned stadiums and the like, while making some concessions on its strict alcohol laws.
It’s said construction of the stadiums will cost around $3 billion, but that figure will skyrocket when the reality of how it is to overcome its shortcomings hits home.
So considering these deficiencies, we are left with the obvious question of why Qatar.
Well, their political muscle lead, undoubtedly, by Asian Football Confederation President Mohamed Bin Hammam obviously was a decisive factor, and the rest of the committee was cajoled into voting for them given they scored 11 votes in the first round (nearest rival Korea Republic had four, Australia just one) of 2022 voting.
We can never know the wheeling and dealings that went on behind closed doors, but it obviously went against any logical decision on the suitability of hosting a World Cup.
This isn’t to totally discount Qatar’s bid.
Their presentation in Zurich was strong (one of the strongest) and showed there is more to their bid than dollars.
Like Australia and Russia, the Middle East is uncharted water for the World Cup, so President Sepp Blatter had some justification to play up that message (although none of us really believed him). And hopefully the decision brings about a closer and more open relationship between the Middle East/Islamic world and the rest of the world.
But in going against their technical committee’s report and showing once and for all that the political games and deals is what counts in such decisions, FIFA have done serious damage to its own reputation.
There can be no other reason why Qatar won the bid aside from this geopolitical game, making future bids irrelevant. No matter their suitability and strength, if you don’t have the political backing you have no shot, seems to be the message. Just look at England’s 2018 bid – strong technical report, strong football heritage and the strongest presentation in Zurich, yet they walk away with two votes and a first round exit.
FIFA exposed its seedy underbelly, once reserved for the backrooms, to a global audience – and the damage of that decision and the subsequent fallout will have huge consequences for the governing body and the game. One wonders if the financial windfall from a Qatari World Cup is worth that damage.
Thankfully the 2018 and 2022 farcical bidding process is over – although the recriminations will continue unabated.
How fitting that on the day two World Cups were announced at once, one of the countries allegedly found to have colluded with a bidder in the other race should win (Qatar), while the other missed out by six votes (Spain-Portugal, defeated by Russia in the final round of voting for 2018).
It was certainly a dark day for the game.
Red V Man
Guest
Qatari Mohammed Bin Hamman supported Sepp Blatter's 1998 and 2002 FIFA Presidency campaigns in his capacity as QFA Chairman or AFC President. In August 2010 Bin Hamman vowed not to run against Blatter saying that "I will be backing him to remain in office for a new mandate. He is my very good friend". On 2 December 2010 Qatar is awarded the 2022 FIFA World Cup. A very good friend indeed. Blatter publicly stated prior to December 2010 that he would like to leave the world a legacy from his time as FIFA boss and win the Nobel Peace Prize. On 2 December 2010 FIFA awards the 2022 FIFA World Cup to Qatar while Blatter is president. Does awarding the FIFA World Cup to an Arab country qualify as a legacy-leaving, Nobel Peace Prize-winning jesture? Umm, I wander. If it walks like a duck...
Matt Smith
Guest
brilliant comment! Watch out league and union fans! It's happening in cricket already!
Professor Rosseforp
Guest
Did anybody see the votes counted?
Mad
Guest
Good to see Franz agrees - http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/soccer/franz-beckenbauer-loses-confidence-in-fifa/story-e6frfg8x-1225971180578
sydboz
Guest
maldives have more of a real population
mahony
Guest
This is an interesting take on it and I don't entirely disagree.....
mahony
Guest
Either you need to spread of big cities to cope with the scale of the thing (and it will be a lot bigger by 2022 than most people reasliswe with a likely shift to 48 finalists) - or you need a 'blank canvas' to build a compact ;green field' city and the associated suporting infrastructure. Qatar is the 'blank canvas' approach....
mahony
Guest
I agree. It was the only INHERANT waekness in the bid IMO (apart from FIFA politics). Other issues such as the 'pitch' wtc are entirely subjective and I am happy to take the advice of the consultants ahead of the warriors on this websitte.
mahony
Guest
The 'sokkah' haters point to the Kangaroo in the bid and then blush. So who is cringing pal? Football success will come to define our national character in sporting terms before long enough. I am happy to wait for the powerfull forces of globalisation and nationalism to converge. The education of government and the broader population to the power of the game is the only silver lining on this debacle....
mahony
Guest
What I take from this is that the process needs reform, ala the IOC approach. Our bid was best (maybe equal to US across all the reasons for hosting) but we lost on the politics. I am pleased it is going to West Asia - the Cup will do wonders for football in the region and maybe, just maybe the region itself. I am also pleased for Russia, but only becasue I was there a few years ago and think a Russian World Cup would be a great one to go to. Clearly England had the best bid in that race.
mahony
Guest
By 2022 the 32 nations competing could be 48 I read somewhere?
jameswm
Guest
What's NRL got to do with this, Millster? Why do you get the impression I'm an NRL fan (I'm not), or that I don't like soccer, or that I live a sheltered life (I've lived overseas for 18 months - Asia and Europe)? Go back to my question an take it on face value.
TCunbeliever
Roar Guru
Learn some facts. The AFL and NRL were both supportive of the bid, and both to the same extent.
TCunbeliever
Roar Guru
How do you figure that domination of Australian football or a Rugby code has anything to do with the sophistication of the residents here? Are you forgetting that both sports are adaptions of Association football? Given that, I don't see how it follows that the audience of those sports can be any less cultured or sophisticated than those of other sports.. In fact i would go as far as to refute any correlation between the love of particular sports and the levels of sophistication/culture of it's fans. Take me for example.. I am a lover of Australian Football - something you consider the domain of "yobbo, barbarian, philistines." Yet my username is an obvious reference to an iconic literary figure.. I'm not saying yours isn't - Titus is a significant character in the annals of Gothic litetrature - so that may well be the case. And anyone so interested in literature cannot be truly said to be unsophisticated or barbaric, can they?
TCunbeliever
Roar Guru
There is nothing admirable about the so called 'democratic' model in the US, nor is their economic model anything to aspire to. But yeah, it was a nonsense throwaway line. Some days I am ruled by passion, other days not so much.
Whites
Guest
They are going to plant millions of trees in the desert.
Whites
Guest
Thank you Simmo. That's why I used the word generous. A more realistic population for a country to host a world cup is 20m+. Why do you think Spain/Portugal and Netherlands/Belgium had joint bids? CCM 4:0 Sydney
Whites
Guest
And with the global warming caused by Qatar's oil and gas industry it will be more like 50-60 degrees in 2022.
Will-See
Guest
dublin dave You've just nailed it right.
Will-See
Guest
Qatar 2022 Cut the crap.A fictitious win from the very beggining will be an enivitable disaster in the end.Call it getting even.