WWTBAM Bored

Is awarded to Qatar.

They beat out Australia, the USA, Japan

A real WTF except the word was they had the most money and insider influence. The only advantages I see are them being new having not hosted before and being a small country transport from venue to venue will not be an issue. Australia would have been my second choice after the USA and the Aussies never hosted it.

Most venues will have to be built, with no use after the World Cup, and they promised to have the materials deconstructed after the Cup and used for stadiums elsewhere where they are more useful. The World Cup is usually held around June 10-July 10; highs can average over 110F sometimes 120 with unpredictable humidity and frequent dust storms. They are doing something ( I suppose strong A/C and at least partially domed stadiums) to keep things cooler inside. Other times of the year conflict with the European championship and most domestic sports leagues so changing it to a better time of the year for them would be tough.

I am wondering if FIFA, around 2020 or 2021, will be coming to the US, after Qatar is having issues with the stadiums and logistics, or there are second thoughts because of the temperatures.

You do not play soccer in domes! ( I am not so much of a purist that I have a hard stance on field turf, though. )


I really was hoping to take the family to games in KC on 2022.

I know that the host country automatically qualifies for the World Cup, and I would guess that Qatar is not exactly a hotbed for developing world-class soccer talent.

Is there anything that would prevent them from buying or renting a team solely for the purpose of playing in the tournament? All it would take would be to sign up twenty or so players who for whatever reason are not in the tournament and passing whatever laws are needed to grant them honorary residency or citizenship for the month or two that the tournament would take.

silverscreenselect wrote:I know that the host country automatically qualifies for the World Cup, and I would guess that Qatar is not exactly a hotbed for developing world-class soccer talent.

Is there anything that would prevent them from buying or renting a team solely for the purpose of playing in the tournament? All it would take would be to sign up twenty or so players who for whatever reason are not in the tournament and passing whatever laws are needed to grant them honorary residency or citizenship for the month or two that the tournament would take.

Isn't that what every team does anyway?

Thousandaire wrote:

silverscreenselect wrote:I know that the host country automatically qualifies for the World Cup, and I would guess that Qatar is not exactly a hotbed for developing world-class soccer talent.

Is there anything that would prevent them from buying or renting a team solely for the purpose of playing in the tournament? All it would take would be to sign up twenty or so players who for whatever reason are not in the tournament and passing whatever laws are needed to grant them honorary residency or citizenship for the month or two that the tournament would take.

Isn't that what every team does anyway?

It's pretty hard to do that with the FIFA rules. Once a player plays for one adult national team they cannot play for another one. Qatar could conceivably find uncapped players and naturalize them but then those players could never play for anyone else. You will likely see some Brazilian or African born players on the Qatari national team heading into the 2022 World Cup but they won't really improve the team all that much.

This kind of thing happens in every qualifying cycle but in the end it doesn't really help beyond a player or two. The current Qatar national team has Fábio César Montezine, a Brazilian, and Daniel Goma, from Guinea.

FIFA officials have been arrested for accepting millions in bribes to influence the choice of World Cup locations. I'm surprised by the arrests, but not the bribery.

Scott Snowden ‏@LorumIpsum May 27
BREAKING: Swiss Police confirm that, when arrested, all seven FIFA officials threw themselves on the ground and pretended to be injured.

Sepp Blatter has resigned.

Wow. Didn't see that coming.

Vandal wrote:Sepp Blatter has resigned.

Wow. Didn't see that coming.

Nor I. Especially since he just got re-elected last Friday after his opposition (conveniently) dropped out. And the way he was mouthing off over the weekend about how the investigations from the US and complaints from western Europe were basically sour grapes for the next two FIFA World Cups.(TM)

Then again, maybe he's resigning to become His Excellency the High Potentate Major Domo of All Things Football For Life. And that doesn't require an election.

And besides, the primary reason (I think) that they did the unprecedented awarding of two WCs at once was so he could get all the bribe money before he left. But that's just me being cynical.

(BTW - don't laugh at the "His Excellency" thing; I know the IOC Presidents have routinely demanded to be addressed as such.)

I wonder if Sepp's going to the Women's WC in Canada so he can see the shorter shorts he proposed a few years ago?

Vandal wrote:Sepp Blatter has resigned.

Wow. Didn't see that coming.

Wow. Now we know. It's a bad idea to piss off John Oliver. --Bob

From Twitter:

"Wait, you actually let them badger you into RESIGNING?"

In all fairness, it's HARD to find the time to spend all that bribe money if one is working, too.

tlynn78 wrote:In all fairness, it's HARD to find the time to spend all that bribe money if one is working, too.

I could find the time to spend a large amount of bribe money. Or at least I think I could find the time. I couldn't say for sure because nobody has ever offered a bribe large enough for me to sell out my soul.

In other FIFA news, the movie United Passions, starring Gerard Depardieu, Sam Neill, and Tim Roth as Sepp Blatter, grossed under $900 in its first weekend in the U.S. (That's not a misprint.) Worldwide, it's made under $200,000. It cost FIFA $30 million (your bribe dollars at work).

FIFA-financed movie 'United Passions' nets only $900 in limited US release

jarnon wrote:In other FIFA news, the movie United Passions, starring Gerard Depardieu, Sam Neill, and Tim Roth as Sepp Blatter, grossed under $900 in its first weekend in the U.S. (That's not a misprint.) Worldwide, it's made under $200,000. It cost FIFA $30 million (your bribe dollars at work).

FIFA-financed movie 'United Passions' nets only $900 in limited US release

That sounds like the ultimate vanity project.

.

In addition to bribery and cinematic failure, FIFA's now accused of sexism.

FIFA Article Draws Criticism for Referring to Alex Morgan's Looks

(OK, I admit she's hot. But the article lists other differences in how the women's and men's teams are treated.)

FIFA.com referred to the players by male pronouns

For some of the German players, that may be close to the truth.

Hard to believe that no one has noted here the U.S. team's victory yesterday over Germany, the No. 1 team in the world. --Bob

Bob78164 wrote:Hard to believe that no one has noted here the U.S. team's victory yesterday over Germany, the No. 1 team in the world. --Bob

The Germans were afraid to score because they thought Hope Solo would beat the shit out of them...

Jeemie wrote:

Bob78164 wrote:Hard to believe that no one has noted here the U.S. team's victory yesterday over Germany, the No. 1 team in the world. --Bob

The Germans were afraid to score because they thought Hope Solo would beat the shit out of them...

You know, there might be something to that.

Qatar row: Six countries cut links with Doha

Six Arab countries including Saudi Arabia and Egypt have cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, accusing it of destabilising the region.

They say Qatar backs militant groups including so-called Islamic State (IS) and al-Qaeda, which Qatar denies.

So in addition to the heat and lack of facilities, visitors will have to contend with terrorists who, according to the rest of the Arab world, are welcome in Qatar.

The big FIFA countries should boycott the World Cup in 2022 if nothing changes.