soccer

FIFA recommends Nov-Dec for 2022 World Cup in Qatar

20 Comments
By GRAHAM DUNBAR

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Qatar being selected in the first places is a massive joke and shows that Blatter really has no shame. 50 European leagues will be affected by this so they better bankrupt FIFA. UEFA undoubtedly will also do nothing

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@stormcrow

Excellent idea.

I believe Scotland have been doing this in all international games since the early seventies....

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Why don't the Europeans (and any other regions of the world unhappy about this) just send amateurs instead of professional players? Round up the best university football players to go to Qatar and let the pros play their regular season games at home. They should have never decided to hold the World Cup in Qatar anyway during the summer months. And now this schedule change? Just say, "To heck with this! We're just going to send a university all-star team instead."

0 ( +0 / -0 )

USA, Australia and Asia should stop worrying about Qatar and Russia. It is history. What they should be doing is getting ready for bidding for 2026 and 2030 World Cups.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

What countries did Qatar beat out when getting the acceptance bid? Games cannot be played in extreme heat as fans, players and those building the sites will suffer. I also do not understand why the Olympics have to be held in Tokyo in the 'heat' of summer? Politics always seem to prevail and I guess I need better knowledge to truly understand. Yes, this football extravaganza is 7 years away as adjustments can be made, but there will be much bantering going on. I guess I will google Why Qatar for World Cup and see what I come up with.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Well, there goes the neighborhood, I s'pose. I'm not really against a Middle Eastern Nation getting the World Cup, but Qatar? No offense to Qatar, but didn't Japan and South Korea jointly hold the World Cup in `02? Why not allow another nation to co-host? Qatar is about as big as my back yard (and I live in an apartment), and --- from what I've heard from some of my former Saudi students who've been there to shop and live next door --- it has only two seasons: HOT and HOTTER. Where is the Qatari Government going to build the stadiums? How will Qatar handle the influx of multiple thousands (if not millions) of foreigners entering to watch the matches and undertake tourist activity (if there's anywhere to sightsee besides Doha)?

As far as boycotts, what good will such do, really? When has a boycott ever worked in the past in international events?

Just my two yens' worth...

0 ( +1 / -1 )

You're right. But I think football will survive without American TV coverage. It's the most popular sport in the world.

You talk as if FIFA should make all their schedules just to accommodate American fans, no, you guys are not that important, get over yourself already.

lucabrasi and Hide -- I think both of you missed my point. The World Cup in 2012 got tremendous coverage here in the states, because, as I said, it was played during a relatively slow time for U.S. team sports, plus, of course, the performance of the U.S. team, especially John Howard. Hell, for a couple of weeks there, Howard was all over the place, and not just on sports shows, but also all the morning news shows, etc. My point, to use a U.S. expression, soccer became "must see TV". All kinds of people were going to bars and other places to watch the U.S. games, for probably the first time ever. Which was great for the sport here. Unfortunately this decision will relegate soccer back to the minor-sport level, which is a shame, since it will not build off the momentum established in 2012, especially since the NFL in broadcast here three days/nights a week -- Thursday, Sunday and Monday. I am "over myself already". I am simply pointing out that the economic power of the world's largest economy will not be mobilized for the benefit of the sport as it might have been. Which, in the long run, is not good for soccer.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

@jerseyboy

"Kiss any ratings/interest in the U.S. goodbye, since that is stretch-run time for the NFL teams"

You talk as if FIFA should make all their schedules just to accommodate American fans, no, you guys are not that important, get over yourself already

0 ( +1 / -1 )

@jerseyboy

You're right. But I think football will survive without American TV coverage. It's the most popular sport in the world.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Kiss any ratings/interest in the U.S. goodbye, since that is stretch-run time for the NFL teams to make the playoffs. In the summer, soccer was only competing with baseball, so it got great coverage on shows like SportsCenter. But with the huge investments ESPN and the other networks have in the NFL, soccer will be pushed way, way to the rear.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Surrounded by sycophants and flunkeys,  Sepp Blatter is quintessentially a modern day King Canute, vain, proud and untouchable. Well the means to turn back Blatters tide is to relentlessly associate the rancid stench of Fifa corruption and unscrupulousness, the deaths of migrant workers at a rate that will top 4000 before a ball is kicked to Fifa three top commercial backers, Coca-Cola, Adidas and McDonald’s. Lobby through government and bombard press offices and media. Sooner or later Coca-Cola, Adidas and McDonald’s will run for cover and close the hatch on Septic Sepp.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

How FIFA manages to keep a lock on the world game is amazing. Major countries should break away (like the premiership did) and have a proper governing body.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I wish the 2022 World Cup had been awarded to Australia. Though it is not a soccer power, it is a great sporting nation, the stadiums are first rate, the climate just right and the fans would have turned out in force. And they know how to host a big event. The 2000 Sydney Olympics was exemplary.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

'The FIFA executive committee chose Qatar as host in December 2010, when the gas-rich emirate won a five-nation bidding contest to host the tournament in the traditional June-July slot.'

Yes, so they can't fulfill their obligations. Tell them to sling their hooks along with Blatter and his corrupt cronies.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Thank you FIFA for realizing that summers are hot in the Arabian desert.

I sincerely hope that one day you will realize Winters are cold in Arctic regions and not award a World Cup to Finland in winter in the future. Though I doubt the Finns will be able to hand out bribes the way our Arab brothers do.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

@daveskecks

Yep. I'd like to see UEFA as a whole walk out. It's a farce.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Acknowledge the mistake of giving it to Quatar, and scrap it.

Redirect the $200billion that will be directed to the construction companies and weathy sponsors and officials. Spend it on much more worthy causes.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

As an England supporter I'd like to see us boycott this.

I'll be avoiding products from FIFA sponsors whenever possible.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

It just sickens me that so much corruption is what got Qatar the games in the first place. The slave labor that they're using to build the stadiums is a pitiful shame. Everyone should boycott this farce.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

Well, that means we will learn if the british, german, french and italian Football Federations actually are any different from FIFA....

If they boycott this corrupt farce, then we know there is a chance that the swiss criminals will be out of business, and a new kind of FIFA will come...

If that worldcup happens in Katar like this, the we better forget all about getting corruption out of the sport.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

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