What about it, Putin? As I see it, FIFA just fucked themselves out of a China Cup, and guaranteed the most headache inducing travel issues they could create barring an Antarctic World Cup.

@checkmate As I see it, China's not the biggest loser here. FIFA is. But the old men who squat on the Executive Committee and shat out this execrable decision likely won't be alive in 2022, so why the hell should they care?

East Asia recently hosted and China recently got the Olympics and the World Expo.. It's not about money and markets it's about expanding the sport.
Qatar is allowing alcohol and bathing suits and is cooling their stadiums to 80 degrees. People cried about South Africa 'not being ready', too. It turned out to be a great success.

it's a bit about money too (too much), but yes, fifa overall wants its speech to appear consistent

Well, at least now the British media can really go to town exposing FIFA corruption without having to worry about its effect on the English bid! :-D

The world trembles in fear at the wrath of the petulant Murdoch tabloids.
Those whining children even attacked the Canadian Olympics for no apparent reason. They'll attack anything.

Irony alert: Mike Lee - the same guy who consulted on the London bid for the 2012 games won Qatar the Cup. Ha!

The Russian win makes some sort of sense (FIFA were down on joint bids, so S/P & H/B weren't going to win). And England got punished for the media (Times & BBC) pointing out that FIFA was (just a little) corrupt. Hence Blatter's remarks pre- the voting. And England's 2 votes (1 of which was from an Englishman). The sooner he's out of FIFA the better

It's a shame, because it means that the next realistic chance for the home of the modern game (codified and regulated) to host the premier competition in the world is likey to be 2034 - I strongly suspect that 2030 will go to Uruguay to celebrate the centenary, and so 2026 goes to USA or Oz.

China can't get 2026, as the ridiculous decision to play a summer football tournament in Qatar has been made. The air-conned stadia better work, although it's only been demonstrated on a small scale so far. Note that the stadia can't/won't be domed, as FIFA won't allow that again.

I was more surprised that England got only two votes in the first round than anything else. You figure there'd be blowback from Panorama running with it's corruption piece, but being so casually discarded like that is a real burn. Russia hosting the tournament does work on some level... especially if Euro 2012 in Poland & Ukraine doesn't crash and burn. There's also the prospect of growing the game there (whatever that means), whereas the other 2018 bidders aren't going to get much more football crazed than they already are.

Honestly i'm dissapointed the US didn't get the bid jsut because it had the potential to boost football as a sport in the United States. It would of made sense! United states had the best facilities and infastructure. yet the world cup is going to a nation with one semi large city, a size smaller than connecticut and a population that will be doubled just by filling one stadium. put 100 degree weather in the argument and Quatar just doesn't make sense

Guys get over it. Russia is a huge, massively important country, and has never hosted a world cup. They're a natural choice right from the start.
Qatar is a little more surprising to me, but only because of its size. It is quite small. I'd have thought perhaps they'd share it with some larger country in the same region. But I really do have to object to people who say "Qatar is terroristland." I'm tired of narrow minded people classifying the entire Muslim world as a place full of terrorists just because of the actions of a number of people. Yes, there are such things as Muslim terrorists. Whatever you may think of them, Islamic countries are becoming major players on the world scene. It's time people learned to accept that and started acting accordingly.

Bloody excellent result for England! I for one was dreading the prospect of missing out on watching England qualify for the 2018 World Cup (and lets face it, the qualifying games have been far more entertaining than the rubbish in the finals recently), and Russia will make a fine destination for a short holiday to watch the football :).

Qatar on the other hand is a complete disaster. A host team that hasn't a hope in hell of avoiding total humiliation in the first stage, and a climate that makes all but the most boring of playing styles impossible. What a waste...

i'm all for russia. its just quatar

If the Islamic World deserves a World Cup, it should have gone to a country large enough so that a sizeable number of Muslims can enjoy it in person. That means that a large number of countries should get the chance ahead of Qatar. Of the top of my head I'd say that Turkey, Morocco, Egypt, Indonesia and even Iran make as much sense, if not more sense than Qatar. Put another way, FIFA would never have the World Cup hosted in Luxumborg, Jamaica, Uruguay or Hong Kong... why does Qatar get the nod?

My opinion is that Qatar probably got lucky in that every other country it was up against can step up and host the Cup in a matter of months if they falter. There's probably enough petrodollars to make sure they don't, but something tells me that the great backstop provided by the other 2022 bidders really gave FIFA the ability to take a heavy risk.

i would of supproted it in
Saudi Arabia or Israel, or Egypt or something of that sourt. But quatar idk

The bare minimum that a nation should have in order to stand a chance of hosting a world cup are decent stadia in which to play the games, weather that will allow the game to be played to a watchable standard, and a home team that has a half chance of making it past the group stages. Russia just about scrapes past each of these. Qatar, if you're feeling generous, manages to get one. A shame really...

you jank-ass fools will watch it on tv anyway, chill out.

be glad theyre having a world cup at all

lmao

And can I just say, speaking as a non-European, the rest of the world is getting tired of European domination of soccer. So yeah I'd like to see a WC in Qatar and India and Kenya and Uruguay and Canada and Russia and Mongolia for Christ's sake.

You say Qatar is a bad choice because there's nothing there? Exactly. Nobody was going to go to Qatar before, but now they're hosting the WC. That's a huge blessing to a small country, and I if I were a Qatari I would be very proud of my country today.

Consider this as well: the rich world is rich, and therefore able to travel to these faraway places. The poor world only gets to go if its hosted in their backyard, and even then they might not be able to afford it. So chew on that as well.

I just can't wait till the next one in Africa. I'm hoping Ghana in the 2040s maybe.

Btw theyre air conditioning the stadiums, so the heat is irrelevant.

The whole concept that we have to write off everything within 30 degrees of the equator due to 'bad weather' is absurd.

"Btw theyre air conditioning the stadiums, so the heat is irrelevant."

I'll believe it when I see it :p. Qatar is a bad choice because they are crap at and don't care about football. Europe dominates football along with Latin America because the population cares. Shoving the world cup into the far corners of the world may well introduce the sport to a few million people who would never have considered it before, but to be frank I don't give a damn.

The world cup is too big, takes too long, and is full too too many boring games. It should be cut back to 16 teams and they should be the best 16 teams in the world. I could count the number of decent games in SA on one hand! Who cares whether the game is being opened up to new markets in places we've never heard of? Who cares if the likes of North Korea have new and exciting chances to be humiliated on the world stage? The world cup should be about the best football played by the best teams made up of players who have enough time to recover between matches. We should focus on quality, leave charity work and helping developing nations to Oxfam, and have a tournament worth watching for once!

Also, that's ridiculous to say that Europe dominates because they care about football. What sport do you suppose they watch in Qatar, what do kids play in the backyard? Ice Hockey? Gimme a break.

Hmm, I suggest you get a time-machine and go back to the 50s.

Football is quite popular in Africa and Asia. They might not have the rich clubs there to attract the best players, and they might not have the infrastructure and wealth to develop many competitive players. This does not mean they don't deserve to be there or have the right to host it.

Btw, which 16 best teams do you have in mind. ENG, FRA and IT didn't really put on a big show last summer, did they.

The tournament is worth watching, if you don't like it that Ghana are currently a bigger power than ENG, well, that's another story.

Actually, by this logic, no surprise ENG and US didn't get it :P

Ivo, what are you talking about? The best teams I have in mind are the 16 best teams. It's quite simple. You abolish all of these petty geographical regions and instead have 8 groups containing teams from anywhere in the world, with the top two qualifying (some seeding will have to be involved, but it can be easily done). I really don't care which teams are the best, as long as the teams that are the best are the ones in the world cup.

The funny thing is, this thread is a microcosm of what is going on in the 'real world' both economically and geopolitically. (Some) Europeans and Americans are having a hard time realizing that our world has evolved during their lifetime and despite all the talk about 'globalization' many have not yet internalized what it means yet.

I don't have the time to go look up the numbers (I'm sure some of you might), but if you look at the GDP of europe/USA in 1946 vs today, I think that will tell the tale.

The fact is, the world is evolving, globalizing, networking, and equalizing... and the 330m Americans and 500m +/- non-Russian Europeans have to face the fact that there are more than six BILLION 'others' who also share this planet.

Others, especially ivo, have already pointed out why both Russia and Qatar will do fine (just like korea/japan, South Africa, and the China Olympics)... but I wanted to introduce a new question...

What do you all think about making the World Cup every 3rd or 2nd year? Technology, travel, and communication have all changed since 1930 no? Is it not time to consider such an idea?

Well, they have 32 instead. Big deal. It's big world with a lot of countries. They cannot fit 16 teams anymore.

@Babak

The main problem with having World Cups more often is that you also have the continental championships (European championship, Copa America, African nations Cup, etc.) every 4 (or two) years. It's not only the world cup. If you make it every 2 years this will mean an international tournament every year. No time to play qualifiers :)

Plus, the really big deal about football are actually the clubs and the national championships. Players are only paid by the clubs (playing for the national side is an honor, not paid) and most football fans generally care (and spend) more on club than on national teams.

Finally, similar to the Olympics, having these only once every 4 years increases the value of the whole thing. This is not like the other competitions. Here you only get the chance to play once or twice - and if you mess it up next time is in 4 years, not next season. This makes it a really big deal. If you make it more often this feeling of exclusivity will disappear.

32 teams adds to the cup tremendously. Think Senegal beating defending champions France in 2002, Ghana playing an exciting game against Brazil in 2006, Uruguay getting fourth this year. None of that would have happened with only 16 teams.

As much as I hate to say it, Russia deserves the Cup. But Qatar? There's nothing wrong with growing the game, but FIFA should really try growing the game in a country with some sort of relevant population. As for considering Qatar a developing nation; I'm a little hesitant to call the country with the second highest per capita GDP in the world developing...

Plus whoever says that there is nothing in Qatar is dead wrong. All of that oil money has made it one of the richest nations in the world per capita. Plus, I heard they're donating some of the stadiums to poorer countries after the world cup is done. And I personally like how the world cup is right now. Its the only time I can really watch quality matches on my cable in the US, so I would like it to go as long as possible hahaha. Also, I don't mind the European dominance. As soon as USA gets knocked out, I just root for Germany or another nation I like

I'm fine with Quatar; but how in the world did the UNITED STATES lose to QUATAR in a bidding match? :P