(02-12-2010 20:46 )Krill Liberator Wrote: (02-12-2010 20:33 )Captain Vimes Wrote: Lastly, if Israel qualify for 2022 will the Qataris let them enter the country.
Yes. Modern-day Qatar is founded on love of money, not religious ideology.
And, despite my worry that capitalism helps to kill the planet, thank fudge for that. Who needs religious fervour thrown into the mix of a World Cup? Leave it at the gates, would you?
ps - Maldives 2026; first World Cup held under 12 feet of seawater.
Got £500 on that one. We'll see who's laughing.
Religious fervour? You are the one who brought it through the gates. Where did I mention religious fervour?
The point I was trying to make, badly, is that Qatar, a sovereign state, will for four weeks in 2022 suspend the laws of the land and their political position, whether you agree with them or not, at the bidding of FIFA.
Of course, the Israelis will be allowed to enter the country if they qualify although I'm not holding my breath that they will be invited to play a friendly match in the run up. No foreign girls will be arrested for being improperly dressed nor the jails be full of people who had one more drink than they should.
As I said, whether you agree with law as it stands in Qatar, or not, for the duration of the tournament the host country is turned into a FIFA fiefdom.
I expect, Budweiser, or whichever beer giant sponsors the tournament, to have their adverts prominently displayed at all the stadia which the Qataris will be expected to put up with. So, yes it is about the money.
Lastly, as I said before I have no problem with Russia hosting the 2018 from a purely football point of view although reservations about a nation where one of the most prominent teams, Zenit St Petersburg, have declared that they will never sign a black player to appease their fans and Peter Odemwingie, currently at WBA, was hounded out of Russia due to racism but FIFA stated aim of expanding the game and leaving a legacy in the host country looks flimsy when the tournament is awarded to a nation of 1.6 million people who will now be building 8 world class stadia which will then be 'donated' after the tournament to deserving developing countries.
And lastly lastly, it is interesting that the two bids which won both require significant amounts of stadia and infrastructure costs. If I was a cynic I might even suggest that some members of the FIFA executive might have their fingers in some of the contract pies that will handed out but because I'm not a cynic I won't.