Just a few days ago, FIFA Secretary general Jerome Valcke formally announced that the 2022 World Cup would not be held in June/July as it has been in every tournament since 1930, but would be moved to the Northern Hemisphere Winter of November to January.
The move was made to avoid the 50+ degree heat that would be experienced in the Qatari summer.
This despite the fact that FIFA claimed one of the key planks behind the tiny Gulf Nation being awarded the worlds biggest sporting event was that they would create completely temperature controlled (read: air conditioned so that players don’t die) stadiums.
Mr. Valcke’s announcement was only the formal proclamation of the inevitable, given many key voices inside FIFA, including head honcho Sepp Blatter, were strongly pushing for a winter world cup, despite massive warranted opposition from the major European Leagues who would have see their seasons disrupted.
Last year, Frank Lowy made news by asking for the money FFA poured into their 2022 World Cup Bid back, as they operated on the assumption that the tournament would be held in the Northern Summer.
A better option that both Lowy and CEO David Gallop make loud noises about recommencing Australia’s bid, this time for a December 2022 World Cup held in Australia.
If you believe FIFA and think that the 24 members of the FIFA Executive Committee who voted Qatar as World Cup host did so only considering which nation would host the best World Cup, the reasons that Australia lost out were due to a combination of timezone issues and the uncertainty of what grounds would be available during the tournament, due to the NRL and AFL both being in full swing.
While the timezone issues are unchangeable (at least for Australia, Qatar probably could’ve come up with an ingenious solution that would eventually be thrown out despite it being a key plank of their winning bid), a December World Cup in Australia would see only cricket and the A-League occupying grounds.
For an event as big as the World Cup, cricket could easily schedule itself around the event, and it seems unlikely that the FFA wouldn’t put the A-League on hold for an event as big as the World Cup, leaving nearly all of the great sports stadiums in Australia available for use.
Suppose that the FFA announced this bid, FIFA would have two options: 1.) Ignore them. 2.) Hold a serious bidding process regarding who will host the 2022 Northern Hemisphere Winter World Cup.
Of the five nations that bid for the 2022 world cup (Australia, Japan, Qatar, South Korea and the US), both the US and Japan would be unlikely to rebid.
The US would be unlikely because it would be smack bang in the middle of the NFL and college football seasons, and Japan because Tokyo has been awarded the 2020 Olympics and another major sporting event may just bring the already financially troubled nation to its knees.
South Korea would probably bid again but have a weaker case than four years ago, with a big component of their original bid, North Korean and South Korean unity, now appears further away than ever.
That would leave Australia and Qatar.
Qatar would remain exactly the same place it would be in a Summer World Cup only the temperature has dropped 25 degrees.
They are a tiny Gulf nation, with strict prohibition of alcohol, slave built stadiums and a national team ranked 108th in the world.
Even then, the side is made up mostly of football mercenaries from South America who have been given Qatari citizenship in order to improve the national team’s standard.
Meanwhile, Australia will still be the Australia of the original bid, only without the pesky football codes interfering and average December temperature of 26 degrees, roughly equal to Qatar’s December averages.
Now, the odds of the second scenario occurring is about as likely as Sunderland winning the Premier League this year, but even making such a bold statement would draw more attention to the blight on world sport that is FIFA, causing even more headaches to the already under-fire organisation.
apaway
Roar Guru
Lang Park? Sydney Football Stadium? Docklands? AAMI Park? The new stadium in Perth? Sydney Olympic Stadium? Energy Australia Stadium in Newcastle? Do any of these FOOTBALL stadiums ring a bell? The Qatar bid broke every rule in the bidding process but the FIFA Ex-Co were blinded by green in brown paper bags. They were ranked last by the Technical Committee when it handed up its report after touring all the potential hosts a few months prior to the decision.
apaway
Roar Guru
Actually, Vinnie, I think what most people are saying is that FIFA know they have made an enormous mistake, that they brazenly accepted huge bribes from a nation totally ill-equipped (at the time) to be a bidder, and are now changing the rules of engagement AFTER the event. They should simply admit their mistakes, take the cup off Qatar and either re-bid or just give it to either Japan, South Korea, USA or Australia.
Australian Rules
Guest
Um, neither did Qatar...which is why they're building them all from scratch.
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
"Suppose that the FFA announced this bid, FIFA would have two options: 1.) Ignore them. 2.) Hold a serious bidding process regarding who will host the 2022 Northern Hemisphere Winter World Cup." Whats the downside for FIFA in picking option #1 ?
Norfolk
Roar Rookie
Glossing over the fact we don't have FOOTBALL stadiums aye. The Qatar bid was very good. Get over it.
Rodney
Roar Pro
I thought the major issue why the WC got moved to ~Dec was the weather would be too hot. Wouldn't that also be a major concern when holding a WC in Australia with the new timetable? I also doubt that the ACB would be happy to miss an entire month of tests (one of its major sources of income) in a show of sportsmanship to the FIFA world cup. The world cup would not be as contested as if it where competing with NRL and AFL for attention and grounds, but the cricket season draws a considerable amount of support and the conditioning of grounds for cricket takes time. I realize that the whole thing was rigged and could be easily rigged again if a new vote was taken, but there's still several reasons to say that Australia wouldn't be second preference/ cop outs which could easily disqualify us from hosting.
Uncle Junior
Guest
Only this week, it was reported: "By international standards, Australia's attitude towards foreign bribery as ambivalent at best. Out of 28 foreign bribery referrals received by the Australian Federal Police (AFP), only one case that has led to foreign bribery prosecutions ... this is of serious concern". So, let's be careful about throwing mud around. Australian companies (including the bluest of blue chips), including highly-respected Australian CEOs, have no qualms paying (receiving) bribes, kick-backs, inducements to win, or maintain, lucrative contracts. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-06/australia-accused-of-failing-to-tackle-bribery-among-multinatio/5187070
davo
Guest
This annoncement renders the bidding process performed in 2010 as completely irrelevant. Its like 5 parties being at an auction and the winning bidder is later permitted to purchase the item at a price below all the other 4 offers. Its an absolute farce. When every other bidding nation is CAPABLE if hosting a June/July world cup. This makes Qatar's bid THE WORST. Its a fact.
nickoldschool
Roar Guru
Dan, 2002 was hosted by South Korea and Japan who are in similar time zones as Oz. In July-August there is 'only' 8hrs difference between Oz and mainland Europe so its not that bad if you have the first game here at 4pm, then 6.30pm and 9pm (8am, 10.30am and 1pm there). The problem is mostly with the American continent as its the middle of the night over there. But with Asia growing, I think Oz will be a realistic chance in the future as America wont 'matter' as much.
vinnie
Guest
oh noooo ! its the end of the world! we (australians) must be the worlds biggest whingers
observer
Guest
FIFA board is a law unto themselves. Corruption will continue unless they are cleaned out.
Dillan
Guest
Just as well FIFA have there own ethics committee... :-)
Australian Rules
Guest
No, I'm talking about funds taken from our WC Bid purse, and paid directly by the FFA into an account personally controlled by Warner. There have been many articles on this... but this one from Andrew Jennings is probably the most comprehensive: http://www.independentaustralia.net/life/life-display/how-fifa-crooks-stole-australias-world-cup-cash,5289
vinnie
Guest
those Paspaley pearl necklaces that the FFA gave to the wives of the voters would be looking pretty right now
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
Que? Are you confusing the Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade's Australian Sports Outreach Program (ASOP) with the World Cup bid?
Mike
Roar Guru
I think it's all a bit up in the air at the moment. De Bohun mentioned something about playing A-League matches elsewhere during the Asian Cup, but I think they'd be crazy to stage both at the same time! Hopefully it was just a comment in passing. Not sure about the timing. The last tournament was in Jan (I think to avoid the summer in Qatar), but the ones prior to that were in June. Maybe they didn't want to conflict with the Women's World Cup.
Mike
Roar Guru
Agree that much of the infrastructure is doable at any time, but I guess it's more of a situation where the government won't bother prioritising it unless there is a sudden need to. The benefits though would be more to the country as a whole, instead of just one individual city like with the Olympics. I can't stress enough how much I want a bullet train connecting Melbourne - Sydney - Brisbane! After living and working in East Asia for so long, it's hard to find any positives with our transport in Melbourne. I also figured some new stadiums or upgrades might also help potential future A-League candidates, instead of them having to put in a bid for a license without a proper arena to play in. But you're right when you say that we'll never know what would have been. In the meantime, I'm happy with the direction football in Oz is going, but I'll gladly take more without question. :)
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
108th in the World is scary. They will be seeded as host nation, which potentially makes for one exceptionally easy group and then some real nasties as at least one dominant side gets shunted into the 2nd pot. Sadly none of the AFC members will be eligible for the exceptionally easy pot.
Patrick Hargreaves
Roar Guru
"They are a tiny Gulf nation, with strict prohibition of alcohol, slave built stadiums and a national team ranked 108th in the world." Sums up the situation perfectly, even Qatar had fine summer weather, they shouldn't of won based on these factors alone.
Australian Rules
Guest
And aren't we complicit sheek? One example of Australia "playing the game" (though not nearly as well as our competitors) was our payment of $462,000 into Jack Warner's private bank account as a "donation" to improve football stadia in the West Indies. The money has never surfaced. I mean, seriously.