Russia and Qatar to Host Football World Cup

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Finally A Asia Country Got to Host A Football World Cup

England not given the chance

ZURICH – Qatar was selected as host of the 2022 World Cup, beating out a bid by the United States to bring soccer’s showcase back to America for the first time since 1994.

FIFA’s executive committee choose Qatar over the U.S., Australia, Japan and South Korea in a secret vote Thursday.

Minutes earlier, Russia was announced as host of the 2018 tournament. It was chosen over England and joint bids by Spain-Portugal and Netherlands-Belgium.

Qatar, the smallest nation to host the World Cup, used its 30-minute presentation to underline how the tournament could unify a region ravaged by conflict. Presenters also promised to overcome summer heat of up to 130 degrees by air conditioning outdoor stadiums it will build, then dismantle and give to needy nations.

“Thank you for believing in change, thank you for believing in expanding the game, thank you for giving Qatar a chance,” said Sheikh Mohammad bin Hamad Al-Thani, Qatar’s bid chairman. “We will not let you down. Youu will be proud of us, you will be proud of the Middle East and I promise you this.”

It was the second international loss in the year for the U.S., which was led by former President Bill Clinton during its final presentation Wednesday. Last year, the International Olympic Committee chose Rio de Janeiro over Chicago and others for the 2016 Olympics despite a personal lobbying effort by President Barack Obama.

Brazil was selected as the 2014 host in October 2007, and FIFA began accepting bids for the following two tournaments in early 2009.

The World Cup was played in the United States for the first time in 1994, setting a record with 3.58 million tickets sold, and the U.S. Soccer Federation had hoped a second World Cup in America would boost soccer’s slow but steady growth.

Now the U.S. will have to wait until at least 2026, when it may have to compete with bids from Europe, soccer’s financial base.

By selecting Qatar, FIFA precluded a 2026 bid from China, since the same continent cannot host consecutive World Cups.

Russia won despite the absence of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in Zurich. At the last minute, he declined to make a final pitch for his country.

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Re: Russia and Qatar to Host Football World Cup

So FIFA thinks that the worldcup wil be hosted by a small country like Qatar (no offense) in 120 degree temprature, no matter how much money they pump in. And Russia was given the honor DESPITE there was no presentation made in the end.. that’s simply ridiculous. What was wrong in the bids of Britian, Australia and US? Now either ther is some large scale corruption going on or FIFA has gone nuts…

Or may be FIFA has taken this decision in the retaliation of all corruption charges popped up very recently. Just take a look at this:

http://www.prostamerika.com/2010/11/30/olympics-to-investigate-fifa-corruption-32959/

Olympics to Investigate FIFA Corruption

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The scandal surrounding FIFA took an unexpected turn last night when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that it was to investigate the allegations.
Issa Hayatou was one of the FIFA Executive members accused in yesterday’s BBC Panorama program. It transpires that he is also an IOC official.
The Cameroonian Hayatou is the head of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) which governs African Football, but also a long standing African representative on the IOC.
They announced this morning that the allegations against him will prompt them to investigate.
“The IOC has taken note of the allegations made by BBC Panorama and will ask the programme makers to pass on any evidence they may have to the appropriate authorities,” it said.
Hayatou himself has spoken out in his defence.
He claimed the money was part of a sponsorship deal for the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
“This money was not for me, it was for the 40th anniversary of CAF. At that time ISL was the sponsor of CAF and they give the money to CAF and not to me, and the executive committee of CAF accepted it and approved it. I have got an appointment with my lawyers, I will talk to them and I will take it from there.”
In the BBC Program, FIFA’s Dirty Secrets, bid leaders, Hayatou was accused of receiving a $15,000 bribe from now-defunct marketing company ISL in 1995.
FIFA’s reaction was to declare the matter over and finished by a Swiss court case in 208 which investigated ISL.
“In its verdict of 26 June 2008, the Criminal Court of Zug had not convicted any FIFA officials. It is therefore important to stress again the fact that no FIFA officials were accused of any criminal offence in these proceedings. The investigation and the case are definitely closed.”
Also accused in the program was Jack Warner, head of the Caribbean football federation. Despite that, his vote is deemed so crucial to the England bid that UK Prime Minister David Cameron went to woo him ahead of the vote for the 2018 games. Warner is thought to control two of the votes awarded to the CONCACAF federation, which represents football in North and Central America and the Caribbean. His support is thought to be crucial to England’s chances.

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Re: Russia and Qatar to Host Football World Cup

So it looks like it was suspected already.. :smiley:

http://www.suite101.com/content/fifa-corruption-will-it-affect-englands-world-cup-bid-a315195

Fifa Corruption: Will it Affect England’s World Cup Bid?

Nov 30, 2010 David Tran

http://images.suite101.com/2614316_com_3816241157.jpg

Fifa HQ, Zurich. - Ed Coyne Photography

One must feel a degree of sympathy for the England 2018 World Cup bid team. Months of hard work may all count for nothing just three days before international football governing body Fifa announce the hosts for the 2018 and 2022 tournament.
BBC’s Panorama Fifa Investigation

BBC’s Panorama on Monday (November 29) revealed that three senior Fifa officials, who will vote on Thursday, took bribes from a sports marketing firm. It alleges that Issa Hayatou, Nicolas Leoz and Ricardo Teixeira were offered money by the now-defunct International Sport and Leisure (ISL) company, to gain World Cup rights to market the tournament.
Panorama uncovered the murky world of corruption in Fifa, and looked into Hayatou’s dealings. The programme showed details of 100,000 French francs paid to Hayatou, the Fifa vice-president.
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Leoz, the head of the South American football confederation, was shown to have taken payment totalling $600,000 (£384,000) in three installments of $200,000. Secret ISL documents obtained clarified a list of 175 secret payments.
However, Teixeira was marked as a serious figure in bribery claims, with 21 secret payments received by a Liechtenstein front company called Sanud totalling $9.5m (£6m) channeling through Teixeira Brazilian company to him. Teixeira had close links with Sanud after an inquiry of the Brazilian senate in 2001.
Fifa president Sepp Blatter was asked by journalist Andrew Jennings why Fifa had not punished the officials, instead reverting to a court case in 2008 where the former ISL officials were largely exonerated.
**Read on **

Jack Warner, the head of North and Central America (Concacaf) football, was alleged to have profited greatly from selling 2010 World Cup tickets to black market touts stacked up to $84,000. Panorama received evidence from Norwegian journalists showing invoices and e-mails that state that Warner was involved in the transactions.
An e-mail trail showed that tickets were destined to go on the black market, including 38 World Cup final tickets in Johannesburg. But it was rejected by touts as they were unwilling to meet with the asking price. Warner had also been alleged in selling tickets to touts in the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
**England’s 2018 World Cup Bid Disintegrating? **

Frankly, the programme has come at an unwelcoming time for England. The episode provided an insight into Fifa’s murky dealings, but England’s bid officials have said that these alleged transactions were dated and had little evidence whether these bribes are being completed today. Former MP and sports minister David Mellor says it may be more morally acceptable for England to “insist in reforming Fifa, and making Fifa transparent instead of kowtowing to Fifa in order to get the World Cup finals”.
Whether this will subsequently damage England’s World Cup bid will be seen on Thursday. The bid details the infrastructure in place (stadiums, transport etc.), the passion and fanbase of English football, and how financially lucrative a prestigious tournament can stimulate the English economy, although full details of how much it can gain from hosting remain to be seen. David Beckham, Prime Minister David Cameron and Prince William have arrived in Zurich to meet Fifa officials to reverberate their England World Cup message.
England will compete against favourites Russia, Spain/Portugal and Belgium/Netherlands. All the contenders will go through an elimination process hoping to achieve a majority from the 22 Fifa members voting. The candidate will have to reach at least 12 votes to be awarded the rights to host the World Cup, otherwise it will go round after round until the third stage of the vote when the contenders are eliminated one-by-one.
The votes are cast by officials in Europe (9), South America (3), Concacaf (3), Africa (3), and Asia (4). England are in a political game of Russian Roulette, but looks like they may have shot themselves in the foot.

Read more at Suite101: Fifa Corruption: Will it Affect England’s World Cup Bid? http://www.suite101.com/content/fifa-corruption-will-it-affect-englands-world-cup-bid-a315195#ixzz170g4Np56

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Re: Russia and Qatar to Host Football World Cup

my view is that this should give the english press a clear signal to now fully investigate all FIFA officials including sepp blatter. They were ticked off that the press outed corruption in their midst? they should have had processes in place to control corruption themselves.

a clean win or loss is okay by me, but not when the buncha wusses voted in a hissy fit because the press had exposed the corruption in FIFA

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Re: Russia and Qatar to Host Football World Cup

What an idiotic move by FIFA

There is a major chance of terrorism in Russia, Mafia and skin heads disrupting the event.

I don't what the hell FIFA was thinking of giving Qatar the world cup. If they wanted to give to the Arab world the world cup, then let a big country like Egypt host it, not a small country like Qatar.

Really stupid choices.

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Re: Russia and Qatar to Host Football World Cup

Terrorism can happen anywhere.......Even in England

Qatar will do a great job dont know about Russia though

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Re: Russia and Qatar to Host Football World Cup

pathetic response by english media and obama ... sore loser...

FIFA is clearly looking to expand the game and give chance to new countries. A very good and bold decision by FIFA.

stupid. egypt didn't bid for it. qatar did and they got it.

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Re: Russia and Qatar to Host Football World Cup

Sepp Blatter and pretty much all of FIFA’s under hand tactics were exposed by BBC in the Dispatches program in '08, this was there way of getting back at us.

Ker’ching is what bought voters to vote for Russia and Qatar.

It’s stupid to think, we had everything in our favor, stadiums, infasctructure, transportation links, etc. etc. and that’s worked against us as FIFA feel the need to be the messiah of the footballing world by promoting the game in the ‘regions’ that are having it hard, ie, russia and qatar. :disgust:

Get old quick SP, so you won’t be around to watch the WC’s in '18 and '22. :mad:

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Re: Russia and Qatar to Host Football World Cup

I am all okay with the events, all I want is for english media to now go no holds barred and investigate FIFA officials. for one time in my life I am in the favour of the sports rags and tabloids doing whatever they need to do to unmask the corruption in FIFA like they did with the sneak preview recently

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Re: Russia and Qatar to Host Football World Cup

Let's not forget that there are other countries too in this world. England hosted the 1996 Euro Cup and are staging the 2012 Olympics (perhaps that fact alone counted against them!!) in London, Australia hosted the Olympics in 2008 (Sydney). The United States hosted FIFA World Cup in 1994. So it is only right that other countries are also given a chance to host such megaevents

Russia may not be as rich as Britain but it is not a backward country by any means. Remember the Russians were the first to travel into space and Qatar is mega rich (like UAE) because of oil (not because the Arab Sheikhs have brains). Infact the Russian and Qatarian bids were higher than England

The 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa was quite a success, so there is no reason to believe that Russia and Qatar cannot do likewise

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Re: Russia and Qatar to Host Football World Cup

Agreed :k: