Ya sabéis que hay rotación de continentes obligatoria en los mundiales y así de una tacada se han saltado los que correspondían a África y América para volver a Asia rapidito y darselo a los saudíes enseguida.
Es increíble el nivel de corrupción a cara descubierta en todas partes.
www.thetimes.co.uk
Saudi Arabia the only winner from Fifa’s 2030 World Cup plan
new
Decision to hold tournament in Spain, Portugal and jovenlandéscco, plus three games in South America, paves way for 2034 tournament to take place in Gulf
Early in 2021, The Times suggested that it was only a matter of time before football’s leaders considered splitting the 2030 World Cup so that a handful of matches would be played in South America to mark the tournament’s centenary, with Spain and Portugal being the main hosts.
What may have seemed fanciful then became fact this week, but with some more countries thrown in for good measure. We now have 48 teams and 104 matches in the 2030 World Cup spread across three continents and six countries: Fifa has announced that Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay will host one match each, with the rest spread across Spain, Portugal and jovenlandéscco.
Anyone who thinks this was a move “for the good of the game” needs to put down the large slice of gullibility cake that they were about to consume.
The reality — and this is a view shared by senior figures in the international game — is that this was simply a case of politics and opportunism driving football.
Infantino, the Fifa president, has made a remarkable number of visits to Saudi ArabiaInfantino, the Fifa president, has made a remarkable number of visits to Saudi Arabia
Infantino, the Fifa president, has made a remarkable number of visits to Saudi Arabia
FIFA/REUTERS
The leaders of Fifa, the IOC and Uefa no longer like to have losers: everyone must win. So when Paris and Los Angeles were competing for the 2024 Olympics, the IOC took the easy way out and awarded those Games to Paris and 2028 to LA.
This week it became clear that the UK and Ireland will host Euro 2028, with its bid rival Turkey now co-hosting Euro 2032 with Italy despite the distances involved.
Spain and Portugal looked odds on for 2030 until Saudi Arabia made threatening noises about bidding, so they added jovenlandéscco as partners to win the African vote. But that threatened to make Uefa’s friends in South America unhappy as they were bidding for 2030 too, and wanted to mark the centenary of the first World Cup in Uruguay.
Whether those in the hot-seats at Fifa and Uefa had read The Times is not known, but the “solution” will be for three countries to travel to face three South American teams for their first matches of the World Cup, and then all six will fly the 6,000 miles to where the main action is taking place. No doubt there will be claims that 2030 will be “the greenest World Cup ever”.
In the background of all of this lurks Saudi Arabia. In the seven years since his election, Gianni Infantino, the Fifa president, has made a remarkably frequent number of visits to the country and to meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
When Fifa wanted a country to propose staging the men’s World Cup every two years instead of every four, it was the Saudi FA who came forward. When Infantino wanted cash for his expanded Club World Cup, the Saudis offered to fund it. When Fifa wanted more sponsors, Visit Saudi stepped in.
There is one thing that Saudi Arabia and Bin Salman want from Fifa and Infantino in return, and they want it nailed down as soon as possible: the World Cup. There was no chance of beating Spain and Portugal once jovenlandéscco were on board for 2030, so the next best year was 2034.
There was no discussion with football’s federations, leagues, confederations or partners about what happened next. Fifa simply announced the six-country solution as the only bid for 2030, to be ratified next year, and simultaneously that the bid for 2034 would take place concurrently. Conveniently, due to rotation rules, no country from Europe, the Americas or Africa would be able to bid for 2034. There was no press conference by Infantino to explain this seismic decision: no doubt there would have been too many difficult questions.
There is no burning need for 2034 to be bid for or decided now, 11 years out. The previous time Fifa had concurrent bids, in 2010, it ended with Russia winning the vote for the 2018 World Cup and Qatar for the 2022 tournament — an outcome which provoked the downfall of Sepp Blatter, Infantino’s predecessor, after a corruption scandal.
The reason for Fifa’s 2034 announcement swiftly became apparent. Within minutes, Bin Salman had announced Saudi Arabia’s bid.
There had been talk of Australia bidding for 2034 too, as it is a member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), but the chances of that appeared to vaporise when the AFC’s president, Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim al-Khalifa of Bahrain, trumpeted that “the entire Asian football family will stand united in support of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s momentous initiative”.
So, after Qatar, another winter World Cup looms. Human rights will, and rightly so, return to be a thorn in Fifa’s side. Football will just have to come to terms with the fact that money wins again.
Es increíble el nivel de corrupción a cara descubierta en todas partes.
Saudi Arabia the only winner from Fifa’s farcical 2030 World Cup plan
Early in 2021, The Times suggested that it was only a matter of time before football’s leaders considered splitting the 2030 World Cup so that a handful of matc
www.thetimes.co.uk
Saudi Arabia the only winner from Fifa’s 2030 World Cup plan
new
Decision to hold tournament in Spain, Portugal and jovenlandéscco, plus three games in South America, paves way for 2034 tournament to take place in Gulf
Early in 2021, The Times suggested that it was only a matter of time before football’s leaders considered splitting the 2030 World Cup so that a handful of matches would be played in South America to mark the tournament’s centenary, with Spain and Portugal being the main hosts.
What may have seemed fanciful then became fact this week, but with some more countries thrown in for good measure. We now have 48 teams and 104 matches in the 2030 World Cup spread across three continents and six countries: Fifa has announced that Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay will host one match each, with the rest spread across Spain, Portugal and jovenlandéscco.
Anyone who thinks this was a move “for the good of the game” needs to put down the large slice of gullibility cake that they were about to consume.
The reality — and this is a view shared by senior figures in the international game — is that this was simply a case of politics and opportunism driving football.
Infantino, the Fifa president, has made a remarkable number of visits to Saudi ArabiaInfantino, the Fifa president, has made a remarkable number of visits to Saudi Arabia
Infantino, the Fifa president, has made a remarkable number of visits to Saudi Arabia
FIFA/REUTERS
The leaders of Fifa, the IOC and Uefa no longer like to have losers: everyone must win. So when Paris and Los Angeles were competing for the 2024 Olympics, the IOC took the easy way out and awarded those Games to Paris and 2028 to LA.
This week it became clear that the UK and Ireland will host Euro 2028, with its bid rival Turkey now co-hosting Euro 2032 with Italy despite the distances involved.
Spain and Portugal looked odds on for 2030 until Saudi Arabia made threatening noises about bidding, so they added jovenlandéscco as partners to win the African vote. But that threatened to make Uefa’s friends in South America unhappy as they were bidding for 2030 too, and wanted to mark the centenary of the first World Cup in Uruguay.
Whether those in the hot-seats at Fifa and Uefa had read The Times is not known, but the “solution” will be for three countries to travel to face three South American teams for their first matches of the World Cup, and then all six will fly the 6,000 miles to where the main action is taking place. No doubt there will be claims that 2030 will be “the greenest World Cup ever”.
In the background of all of this lurks Saudi Arabia. In the seven years since his election, Gianni Infantino, the Fifa president, has made a remarkably frequent number of visits to the country and to meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
When Fifa wanted a country to propose staging the men’s World Cup every two years instead of every four, it was the Saudi FA who came forward. When Infantino wanted cash for his expanded Club World Cup, the Saudis offered to fund it. When Fifa wanted more sponsors, Visit Saudi stepped in.
There is one thing that Saudi Arabia and Bin Salman want from Fifa and Infantino in return, and they want it nailed down as soon as possible: the World Cup. There was no chance of beating Spain and Portugal once jovenlandéscco were on board for 2030, so the next best year was 2034.
There was no discussion with football’s federations, leagues, confederations or partners about what happened next. Fifa simply announced the six-country solution as the only bid for 2030, to be ratified next year, and simultaneously that the bid for 2034 would take place concurrently. Conveniently, due to rotation rules, no country from Europe, the Americas or Africa would be able to bid for 2034. There was no press conference by Infantino to explain this seismic decision: no doubt there would have been too many difficult questions.
There is no burning need for 2034 to be bid for or decided now, 11 years out. The previous time Fifa had concurrent bids, in 2010, it ended with Russia winning the vote for the 2018 World Cup and Qatar for the 2022 tournament — an outcome which provoked the downfall of Sepp Blatter, Infantino’s predecessor, after a corruption scandal.
The reason for Fifa’s 2034 announcement swiftly became apparent. Within minutes, Bin Salman had announced Saudi Arabia’s bid.
There had been talk of Australia bidding for 2034 too, as it is a member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), but the chances of that appeared to vaporise when the AFC’s president, Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim al-Khalifa of Bahrain, trumpeted that “the entire Asian football family will stand united in support of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s momentous initiative”.
So, after Qatar, another winter World Cup looms. Human rights will, and rightly so, return to be a thorn in Fifa’s side. Football will just have to come to terms with the fact that money wins again.
