Was Qatar a wrong decision for 2022 World Cup?

http://i.eurosport.com/2010/12/02/66...44-317-238.jpg

I personally don't think Qatar was the right place. Here are some good points I found out :

1.5 million people live in Qatar, but most of them are migrant workers. The true population is closer to 200,000 – smaller than St. Petersburg, Florida.

Qatar's team never qualified for a World Cup

The temperature during games will reach 50 degrees celcius .

To host the games, Qatar will have to construct 12 brand new stadiums within a 20 mile radius. They will be dismantled after the tournament.

Qatar is a strict nation. Homosexuality is punishable by five years in prison.

Qatar hosted 2006 Asian Games , one of the worst hosted games ever.



Here's how people reacted on twitter :

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Pretty sure today proves that FIFA is even more corrupt than we’ve ever given them credit for.

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Qatar needs to thank its special consultant for the 2022 WC bid: Cam Newton’s father.

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And… all the rumors about insane bribes being thrown around to get the 2022 World Cup have been proven correct! Wow.

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This is Qatar (You can see the Size) and the location of the stadiums which will be built

http://www.digitalqatar.net/wp-conte...ap-300x230.jpg

The Reactions

http://www.qnaol.net/QNAHotNewsPictu...dec201_jpg.jpg

Think it's going to be fine. Stadiums should looks nice, got all the money and that.

This seems like a huge over-reaction. FIFA have stated for years they want to bring the World Cup (and football) to the World, so they target countries who are never really heard of in the football world to host it. I honestly don't know why that fact goes over the heads of football fans :/ The whole "bribe" argument is a huge joke.

I am looking forward to seeing how many British football fans get arrested over there tbh.

I am looking forward to seeing how many British football fans actually go there.

The worst thing about it is the climate which I don't think you've pointed out. During the summer it becomes one of the hottest regions on earth, people don't go outside during the day and many infact migrate over the summer it's so warm. To try play football in a Qatar summer is unthinkable, at the very least it needs to be moved to winter but even so it'll be ridiculously warm.

Personally I disagree with FIFA's approach of going to the middle east, I don't think there's much money to be made etc and I'm yet to see what holding it in South Africa has done for the fortunes of Africa.

That's 3/4 World Cups in non-footballing nations (South Africa, Russia and Qatar), thankfully 2014 is in Brazil. I also think it's probably all corrupt and dodgy, FIFA has shown to be like that many times and it was totally unnecessary to announce two World Cups at once.

I have relatives (my auntie and uncle) who live there and it's really strict. She also pointed out a newspaper article out to us recently of a smashed up car. The article says that there was a crash because the driver was driving with his feet and reading a newspaper. She said this was the norm and people drive around while looking at laptops: they're crazy drivers!

Despite all that though, even though the countries have problems, China managed to host the Olympics without any problems, South Africa hosted the World Cup without any problems and I imagine Qatar will do the same.

I don't think it would be as bad as you make it out to be. Picking a destination for the World Cup isn't a one minute thing. With all the negatives mentioned that would obviously put everyone off so I think we should all just accept that it's going to Qatar and look at the positive perspective. Although I do agree with the climate problem i'm sure everything else may go under drastic changes before the World Cup.

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Originally Posted by Jordy

The worst thing about it is the climate which I don't think you've pointed out. During the summer it becomes one of the hottest regions on earth, people don't go outside during the day and many infact migrate over the summer it's so warm. To try play football in a Qatar summer is unthinkable, at the very least it needs to be moved to winter but even so it'll be ridiculously warm.

Personally I disagree with FIFA's approach of going to the middle east, I don't think there's much money to be made etc and I'm yet to see what holding it in South Africa has done for the fortunes of Africa.

That's 3/4 World Cups in non-footballing nations (South Africa, Russia and Qatar), thankfully 2014 is in Brazil. I also think it's probably all corrupt and dodgy, FIFA has shown to be like that many times and it was totally unnecessary to announce two World Cups at once.

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I did point the climate thing out

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Originally Posted by Jordy

The worst thing about it is the climate which I don't think you've pointed out. During the summer it becomes one of the hottest regions on earth, people don't go outside during the day and many infact migrate over the summer it's so warm. To try play football in a Qatar summer is unthinkable, at the very least it needs to be moved to winter but even so it'll be ridiculously warm.

Personally I disagree with FIFA's approach of going to the middle east, I don't think there's much money to be made etc and I'm yet to see what holding it in South Africa has done for the fortunes of Africa.

That's 3/4 World Cups in non-footballing nations (South Africa, Russia and Qatar), thankfully 2014 is in Brazil. I also think it's probably all corrupt and dodgy, FIFA has shown to be like that many times and it was totally unnecessary to announce two World Cups at once.

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I think everyone here has missed the point. The stadiums there will be state of the art and will have cooling systems/ air conditioning placed in them to sway away the climate problem. Essentially they are an extremely wealthy nation with the fact that the royal family will flood in plenty of money to make it happen. I think they are much better prepared for such an event than say South Africa was.

@Jordy: You argued over the fact that they are giving it to non-footballing nations. But what really is your definition to a 'footballing nation', one where there is a massive fan base or one where there is a world cup winning team? I must say, being Russian myself that Russia is extremely passionate about football. The top sport in Russia is football and if we win things, the nation celebrates.

Although I agree with the fact that the world cup in South Africa has not had a vast impact on the country. Sure, it's been modernized slightly and the infrastructure has improved, but in the long-run I don't think it's made any major impact on the economy.

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Originally Posted by Hecktix

I am looking forward to seeing how many British football fans get arrested over there tbh.

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exactly lol. don't know how they're gonna cope when they can't drink anywhere besides bars, restaurants and hotels. we'll be hearing of record number of brits in qatar prisons :P

I agree with Inseriousity(soz Seriousity now ;) ) in some way. China managed to host Olympic Games quite well.

Something you forgot to add that will be a major problem. Currently in Quatar it is against the law for any female to attend a football match.

Apart from that though, there is just so much wrong with Quatar getting to host it. Earlier posts have already pointed out most of what I had to say on this matter. Russia I have no problem with as they are fine candidates for it, even though many have said they aren't.

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Originally Posted by Eoin247

Something you forgot to add that will be a major problem. Currently in Quatar it is against the law for any female to attend a football match.

Apart from that though, there is just so much wrong with Quatar getting to host it. Earlier posts have already pointed out most of what I had to say on this matter. Russia I have no problem with as they are fine candidates for it, even though many have said they aren't.

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I was quite shocked when I saw this and later realised that Qatar is an Islamic country , even if Saudi Arabia hosts it , they wont allow women there.
And Russia , is quite deserving. People there are passionate about Football.Although they werent there this time , but they were fantastic in Euros 2008

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Originally Posted by Kromium

I was quite shocked when I saw this and later realised that Qatar is an Islamic country , even if Saudi Arabia hosts it , they wont allow women there.
And Russia , is quite deserving. People there are passionate about Football.Although they werent there this time , but they were fantastic in Euros 2008

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What do you mean not this time? People in Russia are not going to stand in -20 degree weather to listen to anything.

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Originally Posted by Grig

What do you mean not this time? People in Russia are not going to stand in -20 degree weather to listen to anything.

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By this time I meant in FIFA ' 10

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Originally Posted by Kromium

By this time I meant in FIFA ' 10

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yeh as I said, they are not going to go out in -20 degree weather to do anything. The Euro celebrations were during the summer :).

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Originally Posted by Kromium

I did point the climate thing out

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So you did, apologies.

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Originally Posted by Grig

I think everyone here has missed the point. The stadiums there will be state of the art and will have cooling systems/ air conditioning placed in them to sway away the climate problem. Essentially they are an extremely wealthy nation with the fact that the royal family will flood in plenty of money to make it happen. I think they are much better prepared for such an event than say South Africa was.

@Jordy: You argued over the fact that they are giving it to non-footballing nations. But what really is your definition to a 'footballing nation', one where there is a massive fan base or one where there is a world cup winning team? I must say, being Russian myself that Russia is extremely passionate about football. The top sport in Russia is football and if we win things, the nation celebrates.

Although I agree with the fact that the world cup in South Africa has not had a vast impact on the country. Sure, it's been modernized slightly and the infrastructure has improved, but in the long-run I don't think it's made any major impact on the economy.

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I haven't looked into it much but you can't even use air conditioning in a car with a window open so I'm personally sceptical you could air condition a whole football stadium, it'd be virtually impossible unless it was all indoors.

I consider a footballing nation to be one where football is the main sport, the national team is successful or a lot of football is played at club level. Qatar does not slot into any of these categories.

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Originally Posted by Jordy

So you did, apologies.

I haven't looked into it much but you can't even use air conditioning in a car with a window open so I'm personally sceptical you could air condition a whole football stadium, it'd be virtually impossible unless it was all indoors.

I consider a footballing nation to be one where football is the main sport, the national team is successful or a lot of football is played at club level. Qatar does not slot into any of these categories.

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I don't know how they will do it, but they are defiantly doing a stadium cooling system, as that was one of their proposed things they said in their pitch. I actually think that it will be played indoors with the retractable roofs on, which will be interesting.

As for Qatar not being a football nation, I'll agree to that. I was simply arguing over your point that Russia wasn't, when it very much so is one in my view. As for South Africa, I think they lean more to rugby rather than football.

Air conditioned stadiums ftw

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I am looking forward to seeing how many British football fans get arrested over there tbh.

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I read this and thought "mmm true"

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Originally Posted by :LUFC:

I am looking forward to seeing how many British football fans actually go there.

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read this and lol'd.

I'm not sure what I think really.. I mean as long as the stadiums get built.. we're all gravy right?

I went to Qatar in November for a week, I have to say it was the hottest country I ever been, also the strictest. When we reached the airport, I got pulled aside with a few other people to get searched, I was quite curious but they said routine check, anyways we come out of the airport and within a few seconds, you can feel the heat instantly.

Also because Qatar is a arab country (I'm sure it is), you are lucky to find a pub/bar. We had to travel half an hour to a store and only residents of Qatar can purchase from this store (Note you cannot buy any alcohol publicly), and security is very tight in there. Apparently if you are seen drunk in public, you can get arrested and possibly go into prison.

I have to say, it's a nice country but in my eyes it's a duplicate of Dubai and Qatar are knocking down all the old buildings to build new offices, meaning those living in the old buildings can go homeless, and last of all, the security.

Security is very very very tight, we saw 'VIP', when I say that they were treated like they owned the world, you see police stopping the traffic, then you see five/six black range rovers then few police car, and special police forces then the main car of the VIP and the special police forces, I was actually excited because that was a great experience, anyways we saw where the palace is and apparently if you go near the gates and take a photo of the palace, you can get arrested.

So in my eyes, England should of got 2022

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Originally Posted by RyanDOT

So in my eyes, England should of got 2022

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England couldn't have gotten 2022, cause now FIFA has this demographic policy, where Europe could not bid for 2022. It was between Australia, America, some Asian countries and Qatar.

I think the demographic policy is alright, however I don't like it. Why? Because the bid should go to the country that can host the best world cup possible and if a country falls out of this demographic, they have to wait another x amount of years before being allowed to bid.

Qatar was a joke decision.

The Qatar representative for Fifa (or whatever...the dude who runs the show) said they won't move it to the Winter - so we'll have players passing out on the pitch - GREAT DECISION.

2ndly, why give it to a country which will have to build several new stadiums amounting to hundreds of millions of pounds when you can give it to another country who already has several football stadiums which are capable of hosting, hm?

And why give it to a country who has never qualified for the World Cup, has no major football league or teams and seemingly has no interest in this except the money that it gains from the tourism?

And why give it to a country who will happily arrest you for being gay or drunk, which quite frankly is absurd - lots of football fans get drunk, their prisons will be full within a week. Lots of gay couples will have to keep quiet which is extremely unfair and actually, that's all in the event that they actually go - which really, who wants to go to such a place?

It was a rubbish, clearly biased, decision. If it was an honest vote I think Australia would've got it, or USA, but certainly not Qatar. It's a joke and just proves Fifa's corruption.

However, the tournament itself will be good because of the money the country it has, except for the problem of players dying of heat-exhaustion.

Oh right, didn't know that. To be honest, the voting for 2022 should of been taken in 2015, I understand about 2018 but seriously, voting 12 years before the games actually start.

Also I heard that they are going to start the 2022 World Cup tournament in January that year but don't know if this is true...

I actualy might go to the 2022 world cup, purely to be able to witness firsthand something unique that has never happened before. As i already said, i disagree with it being held in Quatar. However nonetheless it should be a very interesting world cup.

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Originally Posted by RyanDOT

Oh right, didn't know that. To be honest, the voting for 2022 should of been taken in 2015, I understand about 2018 but seriously, voting 12 years before the games actually start.

Also I heard that they are going to start the 2022 World Cup tournament in January that year but don't know if this is true...

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Sepp Blatter (Fifa President) wanted to but the Qatari representative is refusing to let it happen.

Ah right, even saying Qatar didn't deserve to win it, I most probally go there but ticket prices are going to rise as hell

I think many things made Qatar host it. I think FIFA didn't want us to but they also do want to spread it out. However look at the fact that we had representatives, a decent presentation bla bla bla I don't see how we got it, especially compared to other countries which didn't even bother much.

I don't think they should have, or it should have been conditional. I.E. if you can get so and so resources by such and such time you can host it. It gives Qatar the chance to host it but if they just become really lazy and not have work completed on time, then FIFA can redo the host for that year.

It's the wrong decision.
It will be interesting to see if Israel qualify for that world cup as Jews aren't remotely liked in most Arab states, that will be very interesting.
Obviously the heat is a huge factor, even with air conditioned stadiums it's still going to be roasting there's only so much air conditioning can do to one of the hottest regions on Earth.
Qatar also shares it's only land border with Saudi Arabia which as we know is a breeding ground for Islamic extremists, be also very interesting to see whether or not that plays any role in the World Cup, hopefully no terrorist attacks occur but you can never rule it out, Qatar is a perfect spot for an attack.

Of course it shouldn't however the decision was made months in advance, Qatar were in the process of building a new airport three months before the vote because "we've secured the World Cup". The decision to gift Russia a World Cup is also debatable due to it's poor racial record however that's another debate.

The main concern of this thread appears to be the heat. Well I can assure you this won't be a problem. Why? Well that's down to the fact that Blatter and his friends are now debating after the vote has been passed whether or not to make the World Cup a winter World Cup. Details like those should be sorted before a vote, not after. A winter World Cup would cause more disgruntlement than the current debate on the weather. European football becomes very busy in winter, to disrupt a season or two for a silly World Cup is something that the European leagues won't take lightly and it wouldn't be a surprise to see a number of countries pull out. It would totally mess up the schedule for a World Cup that many don't want, even the Qatar people are not bothered.

FIFA's 'taking football to the people' scam is nothing but that, a scam. If they were truly interested in helping the people then they wouldn't select a country where the stadiums will be taken down after the event. Oh and of course, it's not really taking football to a country now is it considering Qatar is smaller than Manchester. How will a country that small be able to host thousands of supporters should they turn up (arf). But going back to an earlier point, the people don't want it. They're not interested. In a recent game between Japan and Saudi Arabia the attendance was classed as 2,000 however journalists who attended claimed it looked more like 600. In England in the 80's we had football firms bigger than that.

Oh and I'll just visit an earlier point before logging out. Even if FIFA dared to host it in the summer with the air conditioned stadiums, what would happen to the fans outside of the ground? I'll leave that with the supporters of Qatar's silly World Cup to ponder.

I am just glad it isn't here.