Awarding the World Cup to Qatar was only a slightly worse idea than starting a land war in Asia. Was there ever any possibility that rampant bribery didn’t explain the decision?
About The Author
BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
14 Comments
Recent Posts
- Day 14: Louisiana Senator Approvingly Compares Trump to Stalin
- Day 13: Elon Musk Flexes His Muscles
- Day 12: While Elon Musk Takes Over, We Podcast With Driftglass and Blue Gal
- Day 11: Harm of Fascist Regime’s Foreign Aid Freeze Comes Into View
- Day 10: The Fascist Regime Blames a Plane Crash on Nonwhite People
Target of FIFA raid in Zurich is ultimately Russia. The U.S. lost out in the bidding process for the 2018 World Cup … I hate sore losers. So the corruption has been rampant since 1991? Never read where DOJ was worried about the bribe in excess of $1bn paid by UK to Saudi Arabia to delivers $60bn worth advanced weaponry. Lookie who wants the 2018 WC location moved to Cameron’s UK … still using rocks as cover to spy in Moscow? Of course, Chuck Blazer has been talking to the FBI about corruption … he knows all about it. Football’s big sponsors VISA, Coca Cola and others likely hit by sanctions and can’t manifest itself in the 2018 Games in Russia.
Um, no. The US bid for the 2022 World Cup, not the 2018 World Cup (the country that came in second for 2018 was England).
Putin’s take on the DOJ “witch hunt” to take down FIFA’s Blatter …
○ This is an obvious attempt to expand Washington’s jurisdiction in other countries.
As an aside …
○ Russia, Venezuela agree on massive $14bn oil & gas investment deal
The 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia won’t be moved … perhaps some Anglo-Saxon countries may boycott the games by not participating. Some US sponsors may come under political pressure. The foolish Qatar games in 2022 may suffer if extensive bribery can be proven. Both FIFA and Qatar have donated funds to the Clinton Foundation … some compensation for swiping the games from the USA with Bill Clinton as big cheerleader
Credit in this saga should go to the dogged obsession of a single reporter, Andrew Jennings, 71, who has traced Sepp Blatter’s footsteps for more than a decade. Jennings worked for the Sunday Times and BBC’s Panorama. His BBC film about Fifa corruption, The Beautiful Bung, appeared as long ago as 2006.
[Source: The Guardian]
In 2012 the Sunday Times revelations sparked a genuinely independent inquiry by a former US attorney, Michael Garcia. This report was delivered to Blatter, but he has refused to publish it in full. It contains criticisms of dealings between England’s Football Association and the ex-Fifa personality Jack Warner.
So former FIFA VP Jack Warner took a bribe, how did Germany secure the last votes for 2006 WM?
Where did these grenades end up? Which jihadist group battling a proxy war against Iran …
No one likes losing but I need to congratulate Team USA for historic win over Team Orange on their home turf in Amsterdam!
BILD Sport Achtung, Jogi, die US-Boys v. @J_Klinsmann haben Holland mit einem überragenden Schlussspurt mit 4:3 besiegt. #NEDUSA
Great come-back after being 1-3 down!!
○ @Tim Howard Yesssiirrrr!!!! Great effort boys!! #USA #USMNT
At some point, the World Cup will be regarded as a white elephant on the same level as the Olympics.
I don’t watch ‘football’, so I’m not getting why awarding it to Qatar was such a big deal. They have to award the World Cup to places that aren’t White or Asian, don’t they?
It can’t keep on going to Europe, Asia, Australia.
It has to be awarded to places in South America, Africa and the Middle East, just for diversity’s sake, right?
I know the bribes were the thing, but Qatar instead of Dubai or Saudi Arabia…it’s in 6 in one hand, half a dozen in the other?
First of all, Qatar is in Asia.
Secondly, it’s so hot there that they’ve had to move the games to winter, which screws up the whole international soccer schedule.
Thirdly, the last World Cup was in Brazil.
As Boo said, Qatar is in Asia. The world cup has never been held in Australia – probably you’re thinking of the 2000 Olympics.
The World Cup location has always been about diversity. In the early decades it alternated between western Europe and Latin America, which were the primary fan bases of soccer. They tried to avoid having the same country host it too often – the only time a country hosted it twice within 2 decades was Mexico in 1986, when Columbia opted out due to economic problems.
In 1994 they tried the US, which was seen as a risk due to the lack of local interest in the sport, but it turned out to be a huge success. In 2002 they finally found an Asian host with both the fan base and the economic base to support it – a joint hosting by Japan and South Korea. In 2010 South Africa was chosen – the first African nation (and the only one in Africa who could pull it off). In between those European and South American nations were hosts.
In 2018 Europe was “due” again – and Russia had all kinds of problems due to the political situation and the fact that soccer isn’t that big a sport there (the same could be said about the US in 1994 – but the potential growth of the sport and the wealth of the nation overcame that concern). In a rational world Russia could not have been chose, but it was chosen over better options clearly due to bribery.
But Qatar in 2022 is just nuts. There is almost no natural fan base, and no opportunity to build one. There was almost no existing infrastructure. The weather is horrible for outdoor sports (and is becoming so elsewhere more and more frequently – Brazil was a near disaster last year). China, with all its problems, would have been a much better choice, if you wanted to stay local.
On African continent there are/were more candidates to host the FIFA World Cup … what happened. Morocco lost the voting by only 2 votes from South Africa in order to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup. This bid video has been made in 2003.
○ And The Winner Is ….: World Cup Bids As Elections
○ Africa Cup of Nations in 2015