World Cup 2018 and 2022: Site Selection

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Other than bribery, what exactly does Qatar have going for it? It's unbearably hot, a repressive totalitarian regime, and not remotely known for football prowess.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Can it just be hosted anywhere else? If it has to be in the AFC then just give it to the Australians or something?

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

UUUUUUUGH

Is FIFA really this out-of-touch? What's next, Fiji 2026?

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Hopefully this criminal decision can be overturned and America (or Australia, even) be given the 2022 cup. If not, UEFA and CONMEBOL can and should boycott.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Also the AFC would go batsh**t if it was stripped from Qatar, and doubly batsh**t if it was taken outside of Western Asia and triply batsh**t if it was taken outside of the AFC.

Who cares? Literally one AFC member has made it to a World Cup semifinal, and they were hosting!

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

I don't think you understand how sports politics works.

I don't pretend to, but I can safely assume that said realm is petty and awful.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Also the AFC would go batsh**t if it was stripped from Qatar, and doubly batsh**t if it was taken outside of Western Asia and triply batsh**t if it was taken outside of the AFC.

Who cares? Literally one AFC member has made it to a World Cup semifinal, and they were hosting!

"...and they were hosting/cheating!" is what you meant.

Sadly, this won't be reversed. Listen, we all know the U.S. is the country that deserves to host the 2022 tournament but it just isn't going to happen at this point.

Yeah, the fact that there hasn't even been discussion of pulling it after the slave labor revelations shows nothing will be done about it. Best that all the relevant teams boycott and we can pretend it never happened.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Hoping for USA 2026, which gives us what we rightfully deserved in 2022 and lets that Argentina-Uruguay joint bid happen for 2030 (since there's no way Uruguay could host alone like they could in 1930). 2034 should probably be England, though it's probably not good to look that far into the future.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

With China getting 2038 and Australia shut out until *at least* 2050 so that Qatar can have a world cup instead.

Someone's thinking too far ahead.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

We have to bring the game to NEW LANDS!!!1, you see.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

It absolutely was appropriate for Asia to get the world cup, but Qatar was such a horrible choice.

It's why I was supporting Istanbul for the 2020 Olympics, btw - if Istanbul had gotten the games, it would have shut the door on Doha for at least a couple of decades.

Other than the awful match times, Australia as a host would be fine. Qatar was obviously a godawful choice.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Any chance of European/Western countries boycotting and holding a separate event altogether in the summer, ala the 1984 Friendship Games?

Doubtful, especially with Platini in charge.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Colombia was stripped of the 1986 World Cup eight full years after receiving it, so there is precedent.

They weren't stripped, they voluntarily pulled out IIRC.

Of course, it's highly unlikely that Russia will be stripped of hosting. At the bare minimum they aren't using literal slave labor in stadium construction.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

How likely is it that Russia loses the World Cup at this point due to international sanctions?

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

inb4 it gets moved to the UAE

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

They'll probably give 2026 to Canada.