What Was FIFA Thinking With World Cup Choices?
Both the United States and England fell short in bids to host the World Cup.
So there we have it. After 18 months of political lobbying, journalist digging, scandal, corruption and a last minute Royal-infused dash to the line, England’s 2018 World Cup bid ended in dismal failure.
For many people normally following the live match score centre who have seen the bid process develop over the past few weeks the choice of Russia is perhaps no surprise. As pointed out in their bid presentation Eastern Europe has never hosted a World Cup and their country harbours a growing passion and, crucially, the financial support for a football tournament of this magnitude.
As an England fan I can perhaps grudgingly accept that. But I don’t think it is the losing that is the galling thing. It’s the fact we had the best technical and commercial bid yet came last out of all four countries. Then the decision to award Qatar the 2022 WC despite also having the weakest bid says it all – it was seen as ‘high risk’ by the FIFA report! It all leaves a bitter taste in the mouth
It is easy to accuse the English of sour grapes. But to put our failure purely down to perceived ‘arrogance’ and FIFA’s whiter than white vision of spreading the game to new boundaries is naïve.
Yes the English press didn’t help and Sepp Blatter’s alleged reminder to executives to bear recent media coverage in mind before voting, simply gave them ample excuses not to vote for England.
But darker forces are at work here – if they had nothing to hide why get so annoyed with the English press? If the rumours are true all our last minute lobbying and excellent bid presentation was a waste of time – we never had a chance.
England bid chief Andy Anson is right in saying we shouldn’t bother bidding for another tournament until the voting process is reformed. The decision is clearly not based on a country’s ability to host a
successful, safe and profitable World Cup.
We better get used to waiting though as it will take more than one Panorama expose to breach the formidable cash-filled wall FIFA have built around themselves. This weekend, it is back to following the latest football scores in the Premier League to boost our morale.
Good story. But are you surprised? FIFA operates like the college of cardinals when it comes to assigning the World Cup host country: total secrecy and zero transparency. England never had a chance when you factor in FIFA's penchant for the "legacy" aspect. The Premiership is already the best and most profitable (top-to-bottom) league in the world, while Russia has huge potential for commercial growth in their domestic league. Yeah, the press didn't help, but we never do (I say we, but I am an American journalist, which is an entirely different animal). Qatar does seem an odd choice with the ridiculous summer temperatures and overall volatility of the region. It will be fun to hear Blatter and the cabal of pimps, crooks and shady characters that he heads try and tell us all that it wasn't about the money … Russia and Qatar? Come on.
Russia is essentially a mafia-run country which, while doing away with Soviet-era economic dogma, has brought back much of the Soviet-era media and political suppression, and Qatar is smaller than Connecticut, with little hope of ever being able to support a top-flight domestic league without regular and sizable cash-infusions from some oil-sheik. As far as reforming the bidding process, what hope of that happening is their? FIFA has little to no motivation for taking such actions, as they essentially hold all the cards here. Who can pressure FIFA?
I am disappointed that the US didn't get 2022! This country desperately wants to become a soccer nation, we just need to be reminded why every so often.
Here are my predictions for 2018 and 2022: In Russia, the Polish team (surprise qualifiers) are detained and flogged by agents of Putin and the team is dissolved and partitioned, with 1/3 of the players being assigned to Russia, 1/3 to Germany (who already have enough sons of Casimir on their team) and 1/3 just go home because they are probably terrible … 2022: The Qatari summer is exceptionally hot this year, and the Opulence of Qatar's oil-barons is on full display, as the world's largest AC unit is constructed by Frigidaire offshore and floated into position, as for the first time in world history, an entire country is air-conditioned … If Israel qualifies, there is a real and tangible threat of World War 3 erupting during WC 2022 …