FIFA executive member says giving the World Cup to Qatar was a blatant mistake

[Alberto7]

http://www.tsn.ca/soccer/story/?id=428320

He says it should be awarded to another country. What are your opinions on moving it to another country?

My two cents: awarding the World Cup to Qatar was done for one reason: MONEY! I'm sure that many, many people in FIFA got a great deal of money to vote for Qatar. Playing the world cup there in the summer is sheer lunacy. Temperatures average from 40 to 50 Celsius. Moving the tournament to the winter as suggested by Sepp Blatter is never going to be accepted by the powerful European pro leagues. This whole dossier smacks of corruption and stupidity. I think this will be debated by FIFA members for a while and then the European leagues will start to threaten not allowing their players to play in that world cup and ultimately, FIFA will move the tournament to somewhere like the USA or England.

Your thoughts?

[alberta white]

Won't move it to England, as they won't be able to stomach all that "told you so" dancing that will happen each time they meet an FA official.

Besides the EPL stance on the winter solution is basically P#ss Off!

Maybe move it to the USA as a fall back, which is use to domestic suspension in the summer as we currently see with he gold Cup.

What gets me is blatter's comments "If this World Cup is to become a party for the people, you can't play football in the summer,"

Well if Qatar has a similar Shari law legal system to Dubai then were going to see one heck of a snafu when it comes to the Partying.

[Trillium]

Won't move it to England, as they won't be able to stomach all that "told you so" dancing that will happen each time they meet an FA official.

Besides the EPL stance on the winter solution is basically P#ss Off!

Maybe move it to the USA as a fall back, which is use to domestic suspension in the summer as we currently see with he gold Cup.

What gets me is blatter's comments "If this World Cup is to become a party for the people, you can't play football in the summer,"

Well if Qatar has a similar Shari law legal system to Dubai then were going to see one heck of a snafu when it comes to the Partying.

So a quick check at 11PM Wednesday 23 July temperature in quatar is 38 Celsius with 28% humidity....

In Eastern Ontario we have been playing in 35+ heat with humidex readings in the 40+ range at 6:30 at night.

Go to Honduras for a 2pm game in San Pedro Sula and your at 40+ humidex rating... so is Quatar so far off playable ?

With a night game starting at 10pm local time you will get cooling of night winds to drip temperature down to an acceptable level in June/Juldy when World Cup takes place.

What do fans and players do in daytime.. get inside and keep cool or adjust to temperatures.

I do not think there will be change.

[Cheeta]

Its always going to be hot when the WC is played in the northern hemisphere or the tropics. I'd say in most places where the WC might go to (and Honduras is absolutely not one of them) that you at least have some sort of chance for a reprieve, as mentioned, evening matches or the weather breaking, that sort of very normal thing.

But Qatar? Judge for yourself.

http://www.timeanddate.com/weather/qatar/doha

As of this posting its 1:20 AM local time and 36c.

The weather is a very legitimate concern to my mind, but probably the smallest but also the least political piece of ammunition the anti-Qatar lobby has.

[The Ref]

Those temperatures are a killer. And what is just as bad is that the lowest in any day is still above 30. So there is no playing at night either. Didn't the government say they would put air conditioning inside the stadiums? What a colossal f..k up was that choice. FIFA should seriously consider two different dates for world cup depending which side of the equator is the chosen venue.

[Unnamed Trialist]

Yes it was a mistake in the details but not in the essentials: a world federation should spread things around. If anyone thinks London got the Olympics for any other reason than money then they are being deliberately stupid. Money as a reason for anything is just lame. Try again.

Fifa chose what they felt to be the most controllable, manageable and feasible Arab nation to give the WC to the Arab and thus Islamic world, just as they chose South Africa to give it to Africa or Korea-Japan to give it to Asia. It is entirely political and in my opinion the absolutely right policy as a one vote per nation federation.

I am amazed by the foolishness of those who think you can snub a huge sector of strong footballing FIFA nations in the Muslim world and start talking about giving it to someone else.

Could they adjust? Sure. They could share it with Emirates or another (Bahrein), they could build indoor stadiums with air conditioning. They could and probably should play at 10 PM local time (actually good for anywhere west and for East Asia). They will likely follow plans as stipulated by Fifa and not change anything already agreed to with Fifa, and in this way will be impeccably reliable partners.

So no one is going to take it away, which in any case is the sort of phrasing only a great Anglo/French/Spanish colonial tradition could come up with.

[Grizzly]

I am a pretty big critic of FIFA and do like the fact that an individual member is speaking his mind and not towing the Blatter party line. However, I disagree strongly with most of what Zwanziger says. I don't think you can just completely exclude countries and regions for climate reasons indeed if the World Cup is taken from Qatar you are excluding the whole Middle East from ever hosting a World Cup. And having a major World tournament in a Middle Eastern country will have a lot of positive effects not only on football in the region but on the region as a whole, bringing a lot of contact between this region and the rest of the world.

Nor do I see the big problem with holding the World Cup in the winter. Other than England most of the European leagues take a fairly large break during winter so it would not be that great of an inconvenience. And Zwanziger is upset about Germans having to watch the world cup in the "harsh German winter"? Give me a break, most of Germany has a mild winter and even in the East where it is a bit colder it is certainly not that bad. The time difference when the World Cup is held in the Americas is far worse of an inconvenience for fans in Europe than the season is. The Qatar start times will be great for Europeans while the World Cup in Brazil will have many games starting at midnight in Germany and when the WC was in the US the start times were even worse. I was living in Germany when the World Cup was in Asia and the start times were brutal. On weekends you would go to a bar at midnight and the games would start around 4 am so you would stay there until 8 or 9 in the morning and during the week you just missed many of the games.

And yes the process of awarding the Cup to Qatar and Russia was corrupt. Corrupt just like every previous awarding of the games including the awarding to Germany. FIFA did not just become corrupt in the last couple of years, it has been a cesspool of corruption for decades. And lets not forget Germany got that WC despite having hosted one not that far in the past because they sold themselves on the new reunified Germany and then turned around and only had one token venue out of 12 in the former East Germany, ie. a World Cup awarded on the basis of a lie. And lets not forget who the architects of FIFA corruption are, the major European countries who hold much of the power in FIFA. This is just European arrogance and ignorance and it makes me angry. Let Qatar and the Middle East have their World Cup and do what has to be done to make it work. It is actually one of the few things that FIFA and Blatter are getting right.

[alberta white]

What do fans and players do in daytime.. get inside and keep cool or adjust to temperatures...

Yep I've been On holidays like that. Mind you they tended to be wet and in Bridlington* or Western Supermere.*

Still If you inside no-one can see if you're drinking beer or wearing skimpy Brazilian Fan Gear

* British seaside towns famed for their weather, or rather lack of good weather

[alberta white]

Nor do I see the big problem with holding the World Cup in the winter. Other than England most of the European leagues take a fairly large break during winter so it would not be that great of an inconvenience...

That European winter break is not that Large if you look at it closely.

The traditional winter break is normally between the weekends around 17 December and 20 January. A total of 37 days.

WC 2010 took place between June 11th and July 11th EPL concluded that year 9 May 2010 Champions League final was on May 22nd.

Taking May 22 as a starting point for National sides to get together (some would have started doing so earlier) that left 19/20 days (3 weeks) for pre tournament training. Add the 30 days for the tournament to play out say a week for players from the finals to get back into position to recommence league play.

Start to finish your looking at the best part of 57 days. some players will be back at base after the group stages but in general you give the better players no time to regroup before recommencing league play. Again the question goes back to when are national teams to coalesce and train prior to the tournament?

Some may counter with suggesting that the Gold Cup didn't have a long lead in, however without trying to be dismissive in the grand scheme of all things FIFA... Its the Gold Cup not the World Cup.

Also Bear in mind that We are not just concerned with English Players here but those of Numerous nations and lets not kid ourselves that when it comes to a final determination, European club football will drive when 2022 happens

Also, What are you going to do on boxing day If you have no English footy to watch in the Morning? sit with granny? Play with the Kids?..

[Trillium]

Yep I've been On holidays like that. Mind you they tended to be wet and in Bridlington* or Western Supermere.*

Still If you inside no-one can see if you're drinking beer or wearing skimpy Brazilian Fan Gear

* British seaside towns famed for their weather, or rather lack of good weather

Of course if its good enough for Camilla and Prince Charles visited East Yorkshire yesterday, to eat fish and chips.

Read more: http://www.thisishullandeastriding.co.uk/ma-care-scraps-fish-chips/story-19561462-detail/story.html#ixzz2a5k0zIzX

Follow us: @thisishull on Twitter | thisishull on Facebook

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

http://www.espn.co.uk/football/sport/story/224783.html

So the World Cup 2022 will be moved to November?

[Unnamed Trialist]

I am a pretty big critic of FIFA and do like the fact that an individual member is speaking his mind and not towing the Blatter party line. However, I disagree strongly with most of what Zwanziger says. I don't think you can just completely exclude countries and regions for climate reasons indeed if the World Cup is taken from Qatar you are excluding the whole Middle East from ever hosting a World Cup. And having a major World tournament in a Middle Eastern country will have a lot of positive effects not only on football in the region but on the region as a whole, bringing a lot of contact between this region and the rest of the world.

Nor do I see the big problem with holding the World Cup in the winter. Other than England most of the European leagues take a fairly large break during winter so it would not be that great of an inconvenience. And Zwanziger is upset about Germans having to watch the world cup in the "harsh German winter"? Give me a break, most of Germany has a mild winter and even in the East where it is a bit colder it is certainly not that bad. The time difference when the World Cup is held in the Americas is far worse of an inconvenience for fans in Europe than the season is. The Qatar start times will be great for Europeans while the World Cup in Brazil will have many games starting at midnight in Germany and when the WC was in the US the start times were even worse. I was living in Germany when the World Cup was in Asia and the start times were brutal. On weekends you would go to a bar at midnight and the games would start around 4 am so you would stay there until 8 or 9 in the morning and during the week you just missed many of the games.

And yes the process of awarding the Cup to Qatar and Russia was corrupt. Corrupt just like every previous awarding of the games including the awarding to Germany. FIFA did not just become corrupt in the last couple of years, it has been a cesspool of corruption for decades. And lets not forget Germany got that WC despite having hosted one not that far in the past because they sold themselves on the new reunified Germany and then turned around and only had one token venue out of 12 in the former East Germany, ie. a World Cup awarded on the basis of a lie. And lets not forget who the architects of FIFA corruption are, the major European countries who hold much of the power in FIFA. This is just European arrogance and ignorance and it makes me angry. Let Qatar and the Middle East have their World Cup and do what has to be done to make it work. It is actually one of the few things that FIFA and Blatter are getting right.

Agree as already said about the arrogance, which I see in Spain too. Though normally they are a bit more sensitive to Arab interests having closer ties with North Africa.

That said, a winter World Cup would be possible but half the leagues in Europe and indeed most in the world do not have substantial winter breaks. There is no basis to argue for that as an incentive, a lot would have to stop or extend breaks. Fair enough, could be done, but we are talking about really needing 6 weeks break, say Dec 15 to January 30, which would force about 50 world leagues to extend their seasons into the summer months. Ie, for Mediterranean and Arab nations, they'd have to play for championships at plus 30 degrees. Or else play a tighter season and limit Cup games or something (Spain plays the cup home and away, when the English FA model is way more exciting).

I understand the heat question being difficult, for players especially as well as fans, but hey, this year in Spain the league starts mid-August and the supercup is being played mid -August as well, meaning pretty hot weather. Players can live with it. Fans too. I really do not get why, as someone said, some games cannot be played later in the evening.

[Cheeta]

Fair enough if you want to break with tradition and have a winter World Cup Finals.

But that's wasn't what was voted on in awarding Qatar the World Cup. It was awarded as a summer event, switching the schedule by 6 months isn't some trivial matter.

Good luck getting the worlds richest football leagues populated by the worlds best footballers to disrupt their schedules one more inch for another FIFA event, World Cup or no. It'll be a June/July WC in Qatar or it won't be in Qatar.

From out of left field; There's always be cynical questions about Russia and Qatar (quite rightly I think) but I wonder how much this summers events in Brazil have spurred some of this buyers remorse towards Qatar.

[alberta white]

Of course if its good enough for Camilla and Prince Charles visited East Yorkshire yesterday, to eat fish and chips.

Read more: http://www.thisishullandeastriding.co.uk/ma-care-scraps-fish-chips/story-19561462-detail/story.html#ixzz2a5k0zIzX

Follow us: @thisishull on Twitter | thisishull on Facebook

ay oop lad! I 'ad that there horse faced lass in't back o me cab yesterday thaknows'

[alberta white]

Okay, so I'm going to point at the extremely large pachyderm sitting in the corner and ask the following.

Of the Female V who might like a pint or two, who would fancy following the CanMNT out there in 2022?

[Trillium]

Seems the cold snap in Brasil is causing deaths.....extreme temperatures in a World Cup county...shocking.

Rio Grande do Sul confirma duas mortes devido ao frio

Agência Brasil

Publicação: 25/07/2013 21:49

Pelo menos duas pessoas morreram, no Rio Grande do Sul, em consequência do frio intenso que atinge a região, desde o começo da semana. Uma terceira morte ainda está sendo avaliada por especialistas, mas há suspeitas que também tenha sido causada por hipotermia (quando há redução drástica da temperatura corporal). Na tentativa de evitar mais vítimas, o governo do estado quer ampliar as vagas em abrigos comunitários destinados às pessoas carentes.

A Defesa Civil do Rio Grande do Sul informou que as temperaturas mais baixas do ano foram registradas na madrugada e manhã de hoje (25). A temperatura ficou em torno de 1,4 grau Celsius (°C) e com previsão de geadas em quase todas as cidades gaúchas.

As mortes ocorreram nos últimos quatro dias. Um homem, de 53 anos, morreu há dois dias, no município de Sinibu, e uma pessoa cuja identidade não foi divulgada morreu, no município de Panambi, no último domingo (21), ambos por hipotermia.

O major Ben Hur Pereira da Silva, da Defesa Civil do Rio Grande do Sul, disse à Agência Brasil que há uma preocupação das autoridades com a situação das populações carentes. Segundo ele, a ideia é ampliar o número de vagas nos abrigos e albergues da prefeitura no esforço de impedir que as pessoas passem frio e sofram em decorrência das baixas temperaturas.

No entanto, o militar ressaltou que há dificuldades em convencer as pessoas, que vivem em lugares inadequados ou nas ruas, de irem para os abrigos e albergues. "No abrigo ou albergue, há um regulamento que tem de ser respeitado. Nem todos se adaptam às normas. Há um horário para comer, para tomar banho e não pode mais sair a partir de determinado momento", ressaltou Ben Hur.

O militar alertou ainda sobre os problemas causados, na agricultura, pois a formação de geada pode afetar as plantações e também os rebanhos. Por enquanto, o estado é apenas de atenção e, não de alerta.

Os centros de operação da Defesa Civil estão monitorando os gráficos de condições de tempo recebidos do Instituto Nacional de Meteorologia (Inmet), e mantêm informadas as 11 regionais nas principais cidades do estado. As prefeituras e coordenadorias municipais também estão sendo atualizadas das informações.

[alberta white]

Trillium, Took the liberty of a Google translate. Hope that's okay.

Brazil Agency

Published: 25/07/2013 21:49

At least two people died in Rio Grande do Sul, in consequence of the intense cold that hit the region since the beginning of the week. A third death is still being assessed by experts, but there are also suspicions that have been caused by hypothermia (when there is a drastic reduction of body temperature). In an attempt to avoid more victims, the state government wants to expand the vacancies in community shelters for people in need.

The Civil Defense of Rio Grande do Sul reported that the lowest temperatures of the year were recorded at dawn and morning (25). The temperature was about 1.4 degrees Celsius (° C) and with a forecast of frost in almost all cities Gaucho.

The deaths occurred in the last four days. A man, 53, died two days ago in the city of Sinibu, and a person whose identity was not released died in the city of Panambi on Sunday (21), both from hypothermia.

Major Ben Hur Pereira da Silva, the Civil Defense of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil Agency told that there is a concern of the authorities to the situation of the poor. According to him, the idea is to expand the number of places in shelters and hostels city in an effort to prevent people from going cold and suffer as a result of low temperatures.

However, the military stressed that there are difficulties in convincing people that live in inappropriate places or streets, they go to the shelters and hostels. "In the shelter or hostel, there is a regulation that must be respected. Adapt Not all standards. There is a time for eating, bathing and can no longer go out after a certain time," said Ben Hur.

The military also warned about the problems caused in agriculture, as the formation of frost can affect crops and the flocks. For now, the state is just for attention and not alert.

The operation centers Civil Defence are monitoring graphs of weather conditions received from the National Institute of Meteorology (Inmet), and keep informed the regional in 11 major cities of the state. Municipalities and municipal coordinators are also being updated information.

[Trillium]

Trillium, Took the liberty of a Google translate. Hope that's okay.

1.4 degrees Celsius.. in Edmonton that is still shirt sleeve weather is it not AW ?

I love the name Ben Hur for the local Major of the Police.... why cant we have Police with great names in this country ?

[alberta white]

...Its a dry Cold lad, a dry Cold

[madmonte]

Yes it was a mistake in the details but not in the essentials: a world federation should spread things around. If anyone thinks London got the Olympics for any other reason than money then they are being deliberately stupid. Money as a reason for anything is just lame. Try again.

I can't speak on the money in London, but there sure is a lot of suspicion that the "money" referred to in Qatar is speaking of payoffs and bribes to those choosing the 2022 venue. All allegations at this point, but if they did change their mind and award to another country, it would seriously blow the roof off of it, if true

Fair enough if you want to break with tradition and have a winter World Cup Finals.

But that's wasn't what was voted on in awarding Qatar the World Cup. It was awarded as a summer event, switching the schedule by 6 months isn't some trivial matter.

Good luck getting the worlds richest football leagues populated by the worlds best footballers to disrupt their schedules one more inch for another FIFA event, World Cup or no. It'll be a June/July WC in Qatar or it won't be in Qatar.

I agree with this and hope on Oct 26 (I believe?) that it DOES get voted down. It was awarded as a summer event indeed, and Qatar coming in and trying to switch AFTER the fact just reeks. Accommodate, go according to plan, or lose the event, in my opinion.

[alberta white]

In this there is also the affront to the Qatar bidders who actually believe the Stadiums with AC work.

By the by, What happens to the Budwiser* advertising revenues?

*Other Beers are available, just not generally anywhere in Qatar other than the bar of the Hotel (or The One official Bottle-O/ Offie/ liquor store.)

[The Ref]

FIFA made two big mistakes... Great article that reveals all the hanky-panky at FIFA's executive level.

http://www.insideworldfootball.com/fifa/12998-exclusive-mayne-nicholls-talks-on-2022-inspection-report-and-winter-wrangling?acm=3157_559

[Unnamed Trialist]

FIFA made two big mistakes... Great article that reveals all the hanky-panky at FIFA's executive level.

http://www.insideworldfootball.com/fifa/12998-exclusive-mayne-nicholls-talks-on-2022-inspection-report-and-winter-wrangling?acm=3157_559

Perhaps this article does not represent Mayne-Nicholls well, but I find a lot there frankly surprising. While I do agree that voting two WCs at one sitting was an error, and the process done for the Olympics is better for many reasons (a 6 year lead responds better to changing times politically and economically, while long lead times are not necessarily good for organizers as there is no sense of urgency and enthusiasm can lag), I am a bit surprised by what his team was recommending, and why.

For me Russia is a great choice objectively for a WC, they are well located, have stadium infrastructure, their clubs have risen in stature, there is fan base and wider than ever. I am ignoring politics here, but that is almost always necessary for one of these events, to a point. In terms of rotating the event and reaching a wider audience, Russia was a good call, as would be China in the future.

Then it comes out they were suggesting the US for 2022. I smell something fishy from the start, sorry. funny how some people want to point to odd financial pressure from Qatar and when the US orother major nations always come up they think it is normal: the Salt Lake Olympics were pure bribery, the precedent stinks.

They would have had one a few editions before, they are not the only nation with fan base and infrastructure, there are other nations equally deserving. So that alone suggests that Mayne-Nicholls did not care in the least about FIFA sharing the event around. And raises my suspicions about who he was really working for.

The argument that cooling systems are fine but what happens if it fails is frankly pathetic. Things do fail, look at the Vancouver Olympics. The odd fail or even important ones (no snow for snowboarding on Cypress) will very rarely affect the overall success of an event. Does anyone really think the games themselves won't be good because of the heat? "If it hadn't been for the heat this would have been a good world cup", will we hear that argument afterwards? "That team would never have won in normal temperatures", will we hear that one too?

I do agree, as I have said, that Qatar game times should be late, that he suggests midnight, is, I think, brilliant. I went to a 00:05 match once in Barcelona, the famous midnight game vs. Sevilla (http://www.theguardian.com/football/2003/sep/04/europeanfootball.sport ), and we had a blast. Better than the Ronaldinho goal was his back pass, literally a pass with his back, turning away from the floater. Do that in Qatar and you'll shut everyone up.

[The Ref]

Here is the second part of the interview with Mayne-Nicholls declarations... Worth a reading...

http://www.insideworldfootball.com/fifa/13016-exclusive-mayne-nicholls-says-2022-is-qatar-s-right-and-they-will-deliver?utm_source=buffer&utm_campaign=Buffer&utm_content=bufferc65a6&utm_medium=twitter

[Unnamed Trialist]

Here is the second part of the interview with Mayne-Nicholls declarations... Worth a reading...

http://www.insideworldfootball.com/fifa/13016-exclusive-mayne-nicholls-says-2022-is-qatar-s-right-and-they-will-deliver?utm_source=buffer&utm_campaign=Buffer&utm_content=bufferc65a6&utm_medium=twitter

That clears up a few things, thanks.

Implicitly is he saying that if England want to get another WC they will have to behave with more caution with regards to slagging FIFA board members?

IN all honesty, considering how FIFA is, I think that Canada has done exactly this, been discreet and probably overly quiet and submissive, in order to get the Women' WC.