Tony E Loves Architecture 168 Report post Posted February 24, 2015 Shortening the length of the World Cup won't work. Players need rests but players also need a climate that won't burn them. Fifa, you created this, now you have to deal with this. Well done (Sarcasm). 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DamC 48 Report post Posted February 24, 2015 The planned dates seem to be November 26th - December 23rd, that wouldn't change much (the final would be on a Friday instead of Sunday, there would probably be one or two less rest days earlier in the tournament. I think this is the best solution with Qatar as a host. The absolute best solution being to move the whole tournament to another country... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
baron-pierreIV 1692 Report post Posted February 24, 2015 (edited) Shortening the length of the World Cup won't work. Players need rests but players also need a climate that won't burn them. Fifa, you created this, now you have to deal with this. Well done (Sarcasm). Tony, you DON'T have to go, ya know. Now grow up. The die is cast, 2022 is going to be held in that heathen country -- so just get with it. DON'T even watch it if you don't feel like it. Jeez. The absolute best solution being to move the whole tournament to another country... Well, I thought they would get Khatar on the 'treatment of their guest workers' which hasn't seem to have improved. But FIFA is such a feckless organization, that even the suffering guest workers are just lost in the shuffle now. Edited February 24, 2015 by baron-pierreIV Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zekekelso 794 Report post Posted February 24, 2015 There is no scenario where the 2022 World Cup is moved. Just isn't going to happen. Now maybe the whole thing blows up and there is no World Cup, or many important countries/players don't show. So now it's a matter of how to make the best of it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Daze 64 Report post Posted February 24, 2015 How to make the best of it? Just don´t watch it! If the big European Nations would have balls, they would simply boycott this whole ridicolous thing. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
StefanMUC 684 Report post Posted February 24, 2015 I hope Blatter will live to see this WC being a giant farce right before his eyes. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nacre 210 Report post Posted February 24, 2015 How to make the best of it? Just don´t watch it! If the big European Nations would have balls, they would simply boycott this whole ridicolous thing. There's no need to boycott it. Countries have to qualify for the tournament. That said, I doubt very much that we will see Germany, Brazil, etc intentionally lose out on qualification. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Faster 545 Report post Posted February 24, 2015 I hope Blatter will live to see this WC being a giant farce right before his eyes. This is one thing that you cannot lay at the feet of Blatter. Almost all reports from the vote had Blatter supporting the Americans. It was Plantini and the Spanish/Portuguese that are the blame for this nonsense. 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
StefanMUC 684 Report post Posted February 24, 2015 This is one thing that you cannot lay at the feet of Blatter. Almost all reports from the vote had Blatter supporting the Americans. It was Plantini and the Spanish/Portuguese that are the blame for this nonsense. OK, he didn't want it in Qatar. But ever since the decision was taken, almighty Sepp would have had ample opportunities to find a way out, yet he didn't. He always sides with the winners (and the money) anyway. And just for the record: I think Platini would be by no means better, but the coward didn't even dare to step up against Sepp to fight for the throne. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rob. 2038 Report post Posted February 24, 2015 This is one thing that you cannot lay at the feet of Blatter. Almost all reports from the vote had Blatter supporting the Americans. It was Plantini and the Spanish/Portuguese that are the blame for this nonsense. He appointed and oversaw the committee which was persuaded to choose such a ridiculous host for reasons which have been obfuscated since. He created the conditions which allowed this farce to happen over the 12 years he was in charge of FIFA prior to the vote. 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
plusbrilliantsexploits 185 Report post Posted February 24, 2015 Blatter is destroying the reputation of the game, and is (unwittingly or not) indirectly aided by European FAs which lack the requisite courage to threaten the man with withdrawal from FIFA and/or setting up a parallel championship in case he doesn't quit. Let's face it: Without Europe, the World Cup would lack the credibility and respectability needed to be taken seriously by fans around the world. If UEFA decided to just boycott Qatar and penalize any third-country national taking part in the 2022 World Cup (for instance by banning them from Champions League and Europa Cup qualifications), what could those players do? Go to South America? The UAE? Japan? Oh please - the best club sides on this planet are in Europe, plain and simple. If UEFA (in conjunction with, say, the MLS and the AFC who were both robbed of possible bid victories) wanted to, they could squeeze the living daylights out of FIFA, reduce it to a commercial shambles and wreck all Blatteristas on the Executive Committee. Without the European teams and any world-class players of note, the World Cup would become a farce and a joke. Sadly, UEFA is led by Michel Platini - a genius as a player, but no less feckless and uninspired than Blatter. Which is why talk of a boycott will not take off any time soon. Disgraceful to say the least. Blatter isn't the Machiavellian tactician he is made out to be by the mass media - he merely benefits from UEFA's cowardice in playing hardball with this septuagenarian Swiss functionary. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tulsa 45 Report post Posted February 24, 2015 French professional Football Ligue President who is also the European Professional Football Ligue President is against november/december. "He said : it's the worst solution and it's possible to make pressure on Fifa to change the dates. " He is for 4 May to 4 June. The interview in French but I think you can find it in English. : http://www.lequipe.fr/Football/Actualites/Thiriez-la-pire-solution/538702 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Quaker2001 1245 Report post Posted February 24, 2015 Shortening the length of the World Cup won't work. Players need rests but players also need a climate that won't burn them. Fifa, you created this, now you have to deal with this. Well done (Sarcasm). The planned dates seem to be November 26th - December 23rd, that wouldn't change much (the final would be on a Friday instead of Sunday, there would probably be one or two less rest days earlier in the tournament. I think this is the best solution with Qatar as a host. The absolute best solution being to move the whole tournament to another country... This is how they're dealing with it. At this point, it sounds easy to say they should move the World Cup elsewhere. Aside from the political ramifications of doing that, the same organization that awarded Qatar the World Cup would be the one that has to take it away from them. Sadly, that's not going to happen Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Quaker2001 1245 Report post Posted February 24, 2015 Blatter is destroying the reputation of the game, and is (unwittingly or not) indirectly aided by European FAs which lack the requisite courage to threaten the man with withdrawal from FIFA and/or setting up a parallel championship in case he doesn't quit. Let's face it: Without Europe, the World Cup would lack the credibility and respectability needed to be taken seriously by fans around the world. If UEFA decided to just boycott Qatar and penalize any third-country national taking part in the 2022 World Cup (for instance by banning them from Champions League and Europa Cup qualifications), what could those players do? Go to South America? The UAE? Japan? Oh please - the best club sides on this planet are in Europe, plain and simple. If UEFA (in conjunction with, say, the MLS and the AFC who were both robbed of possible bid victories) wanted to, they could squeeze the living daylights out of FIFA, reduce it to a commercial shambles and wreck all Blatteristas on the Executive Committee. Without the European teams and any world-class players of note, the World Cup would become a farce and a joke. Sadly, UEFA is led by Michel Platini - a genius as a player, but no less feckless and uninspired than Blatter. Which is why talk of a boycott will not take off any time soon. Disgraceful to say the least. Blatter isn't the Machiavellian tactician he is made out to be by the mass media - he merely benefits from UEFA's cowardice in playing hardball with this septuagenarian Swiss functionary. That's the other part of the problem. Can UEFA and/or the individual associations or clubs band together to make that happen. If so, would it serve its purpose? We learned with the Olympics long ago that boycotts rarely, if ever, serve any real purpose. All they do is prevent countries and athletes from competing in a quadrennial event because of what the parent organization's interests are. If Blatter is to blame for FIFA's ills and the idea is to get him out of power, is this the strategy that makes it happen? Do you really believe that the best players and clubs would choose to not compete in the World Cup and "just boycott" Qatar? I don't see it happening. It's easy for you or I to say when we don't have personal or business interests invested in this. It's another for, say, the US men's national team to forgo the World Cup and turn the event into a joke. That's not going to work where you're asking them to skip their opportunity to showcase for the world where sponsors and TV dollars are at stake. It all sounds nice in theory. But to put it into practice.. not so much. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
baron-pierreIV 1692 Report post Posted February 24, 2015 This is one thing that you cannot lay at the feet of Blatter. Almost all reports from the vote had Blatter supporting the Americans. It was Plantini and the Spanish/Portuguese that are the blame for this nonsense. Agreed. Well, it's all moot now but like the IOC, FIFA should've stopped ridiculous bids like Qatar's at the gate before they got in. I hope this is something the IOC can take to heart. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
plusbrilliantsexploits 185 Report post Posted February 24, 2015 That's the other part of the problem. Can UEFA and/or the individual associations or clubs band together to make that happen. If so, would it serve its purpose? We learned with the Olympics long ago that boycotts rarely, if ever, serve any real purpose. All they do is prevent countries and athletes from competing in a quadrennial event because of what the parent organization's interests are. If Blatter is to blame for FIFA's ills and the idea is to get him out of power, is this the strategy that makes it happen? Do you really believe that the best players and clubs would choose to not compete in the World Cup and "just boycott" Qatar? I don't see it happening. It's easy for you or I to say when we don't have personal or business interests invested in this. It's another for, say, the US men's national team to forgo the World Cup and turn the event into a joke. That's not going to work where you're asking them to skip their opportunity to showcase for the world where sponsors and TV dollars are at stake. It all sounds nice in theory. But to put it into practice.. not so much. Actually, the case can be made that the IOC boycotts did ultimately end up serving their causes in 2/3 of cases. In Montréal, the boycott by the African nations only added to an already miserable narrative in the runup to the Games and embroiled the IOC in an unnecessary controversy. The Western boycott of Moscow 1980 robbed those Olympic Games of all credibility. In Los Angeles 1984, the retributive boycott by the Eastern bloc failed for a variety of reasons: 1) Socialist countries like Yugoslavia and Romania (with their own foreign policy agendas) did participate, breaking the unity of the "socialist brotherhood"; 2) there was no compelling reason for the East (arguably, the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan was a violation of international law widely condemned and quite suitable as a reason to stay away); 3) the IOC had begun to organizationally recover with Samaranch's election, whereas Lord Killanin's absent leadership almost wrecked the Olympic Movement after Montréal and Moscow. So yes, boycotts can work in the right circumstances. UEFA runs the greatest football show on the planet outside of the FIFA World Cup: the UEFA Champions League. Arguably, the most successful leagues and national sides in the world constitute part of UEFA. In the past 50 years, 8/13 World Cup winning teams emanated from Europe. The others being South America. That configuration is unlikely to change anytime soon. 13/36 teams are from UEFA, 6/10 teams in the current FIFA World Rankings are European. As for the players, they don't exactly have a choice: If UEFA actually decided to make it happen, the players would have to follow suit. Further, with its reduced timings, interference with club commercial interests in Europe (especially the winter schedule in countries like France, England, Germany and Spain) and condensed schedule (with less rest for the players themselves - and therefore a higher risk of injury), it's not as if players would be particularly gung-ho to head to the Arabian desert for a bit of relaxation and football nation-building. In terms of the financial interests you rightly mentioned: I seriously beg to differ that the World Cup would be worth all that much (whether in terms of broadcasting rights or sponsorship) once Europe, North America and Australia actually banded together and refused to participate in Qatar. The World Cup's market value, without the most valuable players and teams worldwide (barring Brazil and Argentina, quite obviously) would precipitously drop like a stone, turning the entire event into a farcical exercise and the epitaph of the Blatter presidency as a complete failure. There is money at stake for the big clubs in Europe - and a lot of money at that. Then again, like you, I remain sceptical of UEFA's capacity to think this far and band together against Blatter. That guy is long overdue for retirement - he just benefits from everyone else's sheer incompetence to get him out. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
StefanMUC 684 Report post Posted February 24, 2015 I also think that the European clubs have a potentially huge power in this game. However, Karl-Heinz Rumenigge as boss of FC Bayern *and* the European club association is critical of this move, but at the same time, FC Bayern goes to Qatar for a training camp during the January season break (and on to Saudi-Arabia for a highly criticised friendly). So, the clubs are speaking with split tongues as well. No boycott will happen, one side will just cash in on the other there, while the (not so poor) players and the fans have to live with the consequences. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
baron-pierreIV 1692 Report post Posted February 25, 2015 Any boycott of 2022 will be perceived as a racial slight by the Arab bloc. So, probably won't be happening -- not when you need the 'moderate' Arab nations. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
plusbrilliantsexploits 185 Report post Posted February 25, 2015 Any boycott of 2022 will be perceived as a racial slight by the Arab bloc. So, probably won't be happening -- not when you need the 'moderate' Arab nations. Yes, it probably would be - that said, in the end it's the FAs in Arab countries that need FIFA, not the other way around. Especially given those countries' comparably paltry contribution to international football...this "one country, one vote" mentality is another thing that seriously needs changing in FIFA. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tony E Loves Architecture 168 Report post Posted February 25, 2015 What needs to happen is, Blatter has to go, votes made public, any sort of corruption made public and fairer systems. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Olympic Fan Darcy 321 Report post Posted February 25, 2015 What needs to happen is, Blatter has to go, votes made public, any sort of corruption made public and fairer systems. I feel like most of that stuff has been suggested already and you are just saying it again. Use your limited posts better Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rob. 2038 Report post Posted February 25, 2015 (edited) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/matt/?utm_content=bufferf0a8f&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer Edited February 25, 2015 by Rob. 3 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
baron-pierreIV 1692 Report post Posted February 25, 2015 (edited) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/matt/?utm_content=bufferf0a8f&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! To which I should add: Gaspar: If ISIS doesn't abduct us first ...before we get to the border!! Balthazar: Then, quick, know your Koranic code-words. Kasper: And have the frankincense taser-gun on the ready!! Edited February 25, 2015 by baron-pierreIV Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
yoshi 333 Report post Posted February 25, 2015 What disgusts me most is that through all this hand-wringing over dates, NOBODY in the football world has raised Qatar's appalling human rights record & the working conditions faced by the people who'll be building the World Cup - basically slavery - as a reason why Qatar shouldn't host 22. All the climate problems will of course impact on the Cup & on all of football, & having to hold it in December is utterly ridiculous & reason enough to move the tournament, but I dread to think how many people will die as a direct result of FIFA's greed. UEFA should be ashamed of themselves for meekly accepting this :angry: 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tony E Loves Architecture 168 Report post Posted February 26, 2015 Maybe, the Football world needs to get together and start a new Fifa. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
