World Cup 2018/2022 announcements
 

I'm not sure most people are aware, but today the announcements are being made for both the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosts. USA is in the running for 2022.

The announcement was supposed to be at 10AM (eastern) but is reportedly running late.


Countries bidding for 2018:

Belgium & Netherlands
England
Russia
Spain & Portugal



Countries bidding for 2022:

Australia
Japan
Qatar
South Korea
USA

Seeing that this is apparently coinciding with the NASA announcement, I'm going to guess the moon.

Qatar is seen as possibly the front-runner for 2022.... which is ridiculous to me. But FIFA is not above taking a suitcase full of cash.

Following the Guardian's live blog, apparently there are lots of smiles coming from the Qatari delegation :(

And England might have been the first country knocked out for 2018. We'll know for sure soon.

England out.

AP reported.

2018 goes to Russia

2018 = Russia

Russia gets the 2018 World Cup, the worst possible result in terms of TV times.

Interesting

i would say this is good for USA in a game theory way. USA would look like a safe bet after they'd made the decision to go a bit more expansive with 2018

England deserves to host, what the hell. Their team has been crap and they're soccer nuts. They need something to cheer for. Maybe Spain since they've been strong recently so this is kind of a reward?

Welp guess I'm wrong. Qatar better not win the second bid.

USA is the only bid on the other side of the world. The only downside I think is that 2014 is on our side of the globe

morning to noon spread i would think, yeah.

In response to a question on espn.com about this helping the U.S.'s chances...

"Leander Schaerlaeckens:
I don't know about that, because it implies that FIFA isn't terribly bothered with practicality, which is a big strike against the U.S. "

And with the allegations of collusion between Spain/Portugal and Qatar, maybe this means that Qatar won't have the votes for 2022.

FUCK!

2022 goes to Qatar

suitcases of cash....they work!

Nevermind that. Qatar wins. What an absolute fucking joke.

I wonder what the fewest number of stadiums a World Cup competition has been held in since the expansion to group stages?

Whose the tranny?

Aww man, Qatar :(

Wow, FIFA is almost as much of a joke as the NCAA.

SHOCKED that FIFA would choose Qatar. SHOCKED.

So a country half the size of Vermont is going to host the world's LARGEST sporting event?

Yay that makes sense FIFA.

I'd like to see how those logistics work out.

I hope they get murdered in the group stage, losing every game at least 3 or 4 to nil. But maybe they'll pay off the refs like they did the voters.

He was responding to my question (John C from West Hartford), where I asked if Russia winning was best-case scenario for a US win. I read that on ESPN, but that was considering Japan as the biggest challenge to the US at the time. Qatar wasn't truly considered until this morning.

Until the large bag of money dropped from the sky.

Welp....maybe 2030 or something

http://twitter.com/#!/DanWetzel/status/10359348454752256

Russia doesn't bother me so much (Seems like the World Cup likes to follow the Olympics around), but Qatar? Why? Do they even play soccer? I don't think you can import Southeast Asians to play for your team.

The World Cup in Qatar is going to be awesome.

Part of the requirement for their bid is that all games will be held in Doha, and all the stadiums are going to be enclosed with airconditioning.

Doha is a beautiful, beautiful city.

Doha was host to the Asian Games in 2006... they can handle the World Cup easy enough.

I think FIFA likes to go into "new" areas to help spread the game more. Kind of like how the World Cup was held in the US in 1994, I think FIFA believes it can really make a splash in the Mid East.

Nonsense!

With these decisions, FIFA has put the corruption fears to bed in comprehensive fashion.

Soccer is already huge there. The problem in my opinion is there just isn't anyone to expand to. It's a country of 1.6 million, man.

The worldwide media reaction is of utter bewilderment on Qatar.

Russia everyone understands, but Qatar is bordering on laughable.

Seriously, we're talking what, a 40% monthly increase in the population of that country? What infrastructure can exist or be built on a "temporary" basis to manage that?

Qatar being a way to push further into the Middle East, not just simply that country by itself.

So which countires are you talking about? The one the size of tiny american states, or the ones that are already massive soccer countries?

You do realize one of the stated aims of Korea/Japan 2002 was to expand the game in East Asia? You can have upcoming soccer mad countries, but still wish for further expansion into those countries (like Iraq, Iran, Egypt, etc).

Weather reports for last July in Qatar, courtesy of Wolfram Alpha. 10 year olds around the World are now thinking about switching sports in advance of 2022.

weather in july in qatar - Wolfram|Alpha

Highlights:
High: 120
Avg. High: 108
Low: 84
Avg. Low: 91
Precipitation: none

Well, all stadiums are supposed to be A/C'ed, so it only really applies in going to and fro the stadia. :D

BS. FIFA likes to get the kickback of contractors who build the new stadiums. Does anyone think a region that has not been stabilized since oh, the beginning of time, will be able to host a world event? It is an incredibly short-sighted and stupid decision by the voters who only care about one color. Green.

I'm not surprised at all it's going to the middle east - it's their turn. There might be places in the middle east that make more sense, but Qatar was the one that bid.

Just because soccer is popular there now (isn't it popular everywhere outside the U.S?) doesn't mean that having the WORLD CUP there isn't going to increase interest in the entire middle east.

Qatar is stable.

Yeah, to claim Qatar isn't stable is ridiculous. It's like expressing concern about a world event held in Dubai or something...

Please tell me that we're going to get the 2022 WC. Shit...even if England got the 2018 WC I'd consider going over for a game or two - that's not very far at all.

Russia got 2018
Qatar got 2022

we lost

wait - it's done??!?!?! (I'm crazy traveling this week, I read 10AM EST as something else I guess)

Are you fucking kidding me??!?!?! Qatar!?!?!?

That's fucking ridiculous. Who the fuck is going to travel to Qatar for the games!?!?

Talk about shitty ticket sales.

For that matter, who's going to travel to unstable-Russia where all the games are going to have to be held in a tiny portion of the country!??!!

Qatar may be stable, but the region is not. It will be a terrorist heaven, easy to blend in. What if another war breaks out in the region? Would you go if that were the case?