On Thursday, FIFA President Sepp Blatter announced the winning bids to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. I watched on as Russia were the first to celebrate their victory, having never previously hosted the prestigious tournament. Andrey Arshavin of Arsenal was the primary champion of the Russian bid, who made a deeply emotional speech to the committee on Wednesday. Though England was eliminated in the first round of voting, somewhat surprisingly, Russia is worthy of this honor in my eyes after looking over their football as a whole. The Russia Men’s National Team are almost always competitive in any tournament. Additionally, the Russian Premier League has made its impact known in some of the biggest European club tournaments like the Champion’s and Europa Leagues. The whole process of selection has been a bit bizarre, including the way the winning bids were announced simultaneously, as that has never happened previously. Russia will be a great home to international football’s greatest tournament, though many English football fans do not agree. English dissent is probably deserving, however FIFA saw it in football’s “best interest” to bring the tournament to Russia. So be it, now what about 2022? Moments later, after presenting awards to the Russian committee, Mr. Blatter moved along to what many Americans, including myself, had been waiting to hear.
The change in American soccer between the 2006 World Cup and now is stunning, and a potential announcement that the United States of America would be hosting the 2022 World Cup would serve to bolster that support of the program. There was something different about the World Cups in Germany and South Africa. There was a distinct feeling about the matches like had never been experienced in America before. Everywhere I went to watch the matches in those tournaments, the seats were packed and the crowds were frenzied. Walking into the Supermarket in a USA jersey even got me cheers, that was very much an abnormality. Partially driven by the increased availability of football on TV thanks to ESPN and Fox Soccer Channel, it was still something wholly different. This was an informed fan base, one that had been waiting anxiously since the elimination of the team at the hands of Ghana in 2006, and again in 2010.
Then, something inexplicable happened. Blatter opened the envelope and read the name of the winning bidders for 2022, Qatar. Excuse me? Did you say Qatar? How could this be? The United States hosting the 2022 World Cup was going to be the final step in the coming out party of American soccer, though it started years before. Qatar, the tiniest of nations with no real football history has been announced as the 2022 World Cup hosts today, and there could not be anything more unjust.
FIFA’s “primary” goal is the spread of football’s popularity world-wide, to reach as far across the globe as possible. Understood. But is taking the World Cup to a country whose Men’s National Team has NEVER qualified for the World Cup finals the best way to execute that plan? 2022 will be their first trip; how many points do you expect them to earn out of group play? Furthermore, decisions on the host country are based on various factors (outside of increasing the popularity of the game) including infrastructure, stadium availability, accessibility to those stadiums, security, climate, and many more. There is one airport in Qatar, Doha International Airport, which at the current moment would be unable to handle the increased volume of travel for the tournament. Sufficient roads are not constructed for the teams and their supporters. Of the 12 stadiums proposed for use in the bid, 9 of them still have yet to be built. In this desert country, temperature often reaches 110-120 degrees in the summer, when the World Cup will take place. The stadiums to built are apparently going to be air-conditioned, but that seems so far away when seeing the BIG picture of what needs to happen within the country before that time.
The United States hosted what turned out to be the most profitable and lucrative World Cup Finals in history, 1994. FIFA’s own team even concluded in a recent report that England and the United States would be the two most profitable locations for the tournament if they were to win their respective bids. So, this can’t be about money, right? After a long history of corruption and scandal, FIFA again proved to world football fans why they should not be trusted. This is not an indictment against the country of Qatar, but rather another example of how bizarre the FIFA proceedings have been from the beginning. When selecting a world cup venue, many things are taken into account. It seems that for 2022, cash may have been one of those factors. Since it is out of our hands now, American Soccer will just have to continue pushing along trying to improve its reputation is it has done successfully for the last several decades. But the blow it received today at the dirty hands of FIFA officials really hurts.
