127 replies to this topic

[Athan]

SoSie, on 12 July 2010 - 07:16 PM, said:

I hope the bold sentence is not a push for another England title (they only too theirs at home) because they clearly don't deserve it .

Not only England but whoever... I don't really mind which country gets the WC. I know that if Spain hosted it, it will be good for the country, but I'm not a huge fan of joint bids, although I have nothing against Portugal I didn't like that Korea-Japan 2002 either, and I'm happy the IOC does not accept this kind of bids.

[Ace]

Bic, on 12 July 2010 - 10:07 AM, said:

So with Spain winning the World Cup, do you think this is an advantage for the bid or not?

No it doesn't really matter. It's who ever has the best bid. Championships have nothing to do with it. Unless like Cameroon won the World Cup then it might be a factor but that's not going to happen.

[Raphael]

Athan, on 13 July 2010 - 02:12 AM, said:

Not only England but whoever... I don't really mind which country gets the WC. I know that if Spain hosted it, it will be good for the country, but I'm not a huge fan of joint bids, although I have nothing against Portugal I didn't like that Korea-Japan 2002 either, and I'm happy the IOC does not accept this kind of bids.

I really do enjoy the idea of an Iberian joint bid. What I don't know is if Portugal and Spain are able to forget their historical differences and stand together to organize a WC nor if Portugal has enough money to invest. The crisis in Spain will be history, sooner or later. But Portugal will be the same after organizing the WC: one of the poor cousins in Europe. There is no doubt that a World event as the WC may become a good opportunity to the host countries. But I can't see Spain and Portugal receiving more tourists than they already do, after the final match. Unlikely Brazil, South Africa and Australia, just to give some examples, Portugal and Spain are already very known around the World by their culture and don't need any extra event to promote themselves.

[Golan Trevize]

Raphael, on 22 July 2010 - 09:25 PM, said:

I really do enjoy the idea of an Iberian joint bid. What I don't know is if Portugal and Spain are able to forget their historical differences and stand together to organize a WC nor if Portugal has enough money to invest. The crisis in Spain will be history, sooner or later. But Portugal will be the same after organizing the WC: one of the poor cousins in Europe. There is no doubt that a World event as the WC may become a good opportunity to the host countries. But I can't see Spain and Portugal receiving more tourists than they already do, after the final match. Unlikely Brazil, South Africa and Australia, just to give some examples, Portugal and Spain are already very known around the World by their culture and don't need any extra event to promote themselves.

Portugal doesn't need to spend almost any money on the 2018 world cup, we have three UEFA Elite stadiums with 50 000+ capacity each, in 2018 they will need only some cosmetic upgrades, nothing expensive. In Lisbon and Porto we have enough 4 and 5 stars hotels to meet FIFA's requirements, we have a world class highway system with many links to Spain, in 2018 we will have an High Speed Train line connecting Lisbon and Madrid, also in 2018 the all country will covered with a network of fiberoptics wich will give Portugal an excellent communications grid.

[gotosy]

Joint Iberian World Cup bid earns FIFA praise

LISBON (Reuters) - FIFA ended a four-day visit to inspect Spain and Portugal's 2018 or 2022 World Cup bid by praising the countries' capacity to co-ordinate effectively in hosting a joint event.

"We are certain the coordination required at state level is absolutely assured if the World Cup comes to the Iberian Peninsula," FIFA's inspection team leader Harold Mayne-Nicholls told a news conference on Thursday.

The delegates started their tour in Madrid, visiting infrastructure facilities and Real Madrid's training complex where they met coach Jose Mourinho, and the Bernabeu stadium, the proposed final venue.

They travelled by high-speed train to Barcelona to visit the Nou Camp stadium, before moving on to Portugal where they met government officials and went to Porto's Dragao Stadium and Benfica's Luz Stadium in Lisbon.

"(All these) stadiums form, without a doubt, the ideal setting for millions of soccer fans," Mayne-Nicholls added.

Reuters

[SoSie]

Tonight, Spain meets Portugal in Lisbon, 22 CET (21 local), in a way to promove the iberian bid!

[Sir Rols]

Quote

South America to back Spain-Portugal 2018 World Cup bid

Spain and Portugal's 2018 World Cup hopes have received a boost after South America's Conmebol federation came out in support of the joint Iberian bid.

"The 10 countries are agreed to give the vote to Spain," said Conmebol's general secretary Eduardo Deluca.

That translates into three votes for the Spain-Portugal bid on 2 December with Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina represented on Fifa's executive group.

Conmebol had been expected to vote for Spain-Portugal rather than England.

Russia and Netherlands-Belgium are the other countries competing to stage the 2018 event, while Australia, the United States, Qatar, Japan and South Korea are vying to stage the 2022 finals.

The Conmebol meeting, held in the Paraguayan capital of Asuncion, did not discuss which country it will support for the 2022 finals, which will also be voted on at Fifa's Zurich headquarters on 2 December.

Earlier this week the Spain-Portugal chief executive Miguel Angel Lopez claimed they already had secured as many as eight of the 22 Fifa votes - "All the fish is sold," said the Iberian head.

Last week Fifa executive committee members Amos Adamu and Reynald Temarii were banned from voting in the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosting ballot.

Their exclusion leaves 22 members on Fifa's executive committee with Uefa having eight votes, Concacaf (three), Asia (four), and Oceania unable to vote following Temarii's ban.

...

BBC

Must say ... Spain-Portugal do seem to be the ones with the momentum in the final stretch.

[Scotguy]

This is very good news