Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Greece 2030

[AustralianFan]

“It marks Infantino's second high-profile meeting with a Greek official in recent weeks, having discussed "global football development and FIFA World Cup preparations" with the country's Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis last month.”

 

[AustralianFan]

“Saudi Arabia is poised to announce a joint bid with Egypt and Greece to host the 2030 World Cup which if successful would mean the tournament being played in the winter again.”

“Sources with knowledge of the process say an announcement is imminent and follows talks at senior government levels. As with the World Cup in Qatar this year, if the bid is successful the tournament would have to be played in the winter to avoid the extreme temperatures of June/July.”

 

[yoshi]

I know a lot has happened here this week but I'm fairly sure it's not April 1 yet 

[StefanMUC]

5 hours ago, yoshi said:

I know a lot has happened here this week but I'm fairly sure it's not April 1 yet 

That‘s what people thought when Qatar declared bidding for 2022.

[AustralianFan]

“According to The Times, the bid is expected to be announced in the next few weeks. It would be a serious challenge to the UEFA-backed joint bid by Spain and Portugal, as it involves three confederations and would, therefore, potentially draw support from Asia and Africa as well as potentially certain European countries.”

“Another winter World Cup so soon after Qatar would be opposed by the major European leagues that are having their season interrupted for more than a month by the Qatar tournament which kicks off on November 20th.”

 

[Comped]

No chance it gets seriously considered because of the winter timeframe. Just have Saudi build some domed stadiums there and in Egypt and have it in the normal timeframe.

[yoshi]

No, there's no way FIFA would ever consider having a World Cup in winter, it'd be such a disruption, it's a stupid...oh. I'm starting to worry Stefan might be right and Qatar and this season was just a test run...

[fatixxx]

i want to bring an view from an other angle, normally we are aware of the fact that joint-bids are applied/practiced at different sport-branches.. the biggest/largest one in the foıtball-world.. i.e. respectively WC // EC (ie: 2002 korea-japan // 2008 aut-swi), countries with the same cultural-neighbouring backround etcetera.. 

the combination GRE-EGY-KSA is the most odd one with no common cultural and/or religious background nor directly neighbourship, only neighbouring via the mediterrenean and the redsea.. the only richness would be that it will be a TRİ-CONTİNENTAL cup.. 

- the saudis have the only negative side that qatar 2022 mess-up whole the middle-east region with climate and rotation issue

- the egyptians have organised several african cups, but with the fifa go with a dictator like sisi in sea who did a coup on the democratic chosen president morsi

- the greeks are in economic-disaster till 2060

- if there will be 10 stadiums, than greece can deliver 2 decent ones in athens and tessaloniki, with egypt an saudia each 4 stadiums

- there will also wont be a balanced division between those 3 counries

- and last but not least; greece is in this triple combination to get the euro-votes and hot-mony from the saudi's after bin-salman went to greece a few months ago

- maybe all this triple energy is been created to boost-up the futuristic city of NEOM in saudi-arabia.. 

 

MY FİNAL CINCLUSİON

qua concept; this trilogy/hatrick between those 3 countries same fake imho.. not natural and fake-forced to take advantages via the football-market

 

 

CITATE: At first glance, a potential bid by Saudi Arabia and Egypt, two of the world's worst human rights violators, together with Greece, to host the 2030 World Cup sounds like an invitation to a perfect public relations fiasco. That is undoubtedly true if one looks at Qatar three months before its World Cup kicks off in November. Coverage of the Qatar World Cup in independent media remains harshly critical of the Gulf state’s final preparations for the tournament and migrant worker and human rights record, despite significant legal and material reforms.

[AustralianFan]

The report says that the Saudis are prepared to bankroll the infrastructure projects required to host the World Cup in the countries of its bidding partners, Egypt and Greece.

While the reported bid would face serious competition from the alliance of Spain and Portugal, the prospect of a tournament hosted across three continents would appease a lot of federation executives. Fifa president Gianni Infantino is said to be keen on the Saudi proposal as it includes an African nation and taking the World Cup back to that continent is high on his priority list.

 

[AustralianFan]

22 hours ago, fatixxx said:

- if there will be 10 stadiums, than greece can deliver 2 decent ones in athens and tessaloniki, with egypt an saudia each 4 stadiums

Don’t forget the new World Cup from 2026 has hugely expanded with the number of countries now allowed to compete has gone up from 32 to 48. 

Actually, Greece can deliver 8 decent stadiums:

Main Olympic Stadium - Athens (hosted 2004 Olympic football final)

Agia Sophia Stadium (OPAP Arena) - Athens (new - under construction)

Karaiskakis Stadium - Athens (built for 2004 Olympics)

AEL FC Arena - Larissa (built for 2004 Olympics)

Pampeloponnisiako Stadium - Patras (built for 2004 Olympics)

Pankritio Stadium - Heraklion (built for 2004 Olympics)

Panthessaliko Stadium - Volos (built for 2004 Olympics)

Kaftanzoglio Stadium - Thessaloniki

Some of these will nee a refresh or some upgrade works.

Medium sized stadiums for the lesser known teams will also be need as well as the big ones.

 

 

 

 

 

[Guilga]

Well, this bid has no shortage of stories; three storied civilizations, joining from three different continents to host a World Cup across the east mediterranean...with a passion for football in all three no doubt, lest we forget that at least two of these co-hosts would be continental powerhorses, with all three being continental champions at least once, Egypt in particular being 7-times champion of Africa. In paper, this sounds like an surprising but amazing way to celebrate the men´s World Cup´s 100th birthday.

BUT THERE JUST ONE LITTLE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM HERE! ACTUALLY THREE!!

1. GREECE IS PERMA-BROKE!
2. EGYPT IS BECOMING EL-SISI PERSONAL KINGDOM!
3. SAUDI. FUCKING. ARABIA. DID YOU ALL LIKED QATAR MIGRANT WORKERS MISTREATMENTS AND ALMOST NON EXISTENT WORKERS AND WOMEN´S RIGHTS? NOW GET READY FOR THIS BUT UP TO ELEVEN!!!

This is a amazing idea in paper, but only if reality wasn´t so cruel. But FIFA is FIFA, the only thing this bid needs to succeed and build a legacy of saudi-funded projects in three continents with questionable human rights records is to convince enough member federations at the time of the vote, and this has been set up to exploit the new system to such a degree that i even doubt that they will need to bribe anybody: You can have support of the three largest confederations, with over half of the over 200 members of FIFA, just in a single swoop! Unless this race becomes a free for all with no respect for confederation aligments, this one might be favorite to win it all, politically speaking. The South American bid has tradition on it´s side, but Athens felt entitled for 1996 and lost to Atlanta anyway. If this tri-continental bid get´s off the ground...it´s serious buisness, no matter what the European top leagues has to say about it being on winter.

[AustralianFan]

28 minutes ago, Guilga said:

Well, this bid has no shortage of stories; three storied civilizations, joining from three different continents to host a World Cup across the east mediterranean...with a passion for football in all three no doubt, lest we forget that at least two of these co-hosts would be continental powerhorses, with all three being continental champions at least once, Egypt in particular being 7-times champion of Africa. In paper, this sounds like an surprising but amazing way to celebrate the men´s World Cup´s 100th birthday.

BUT THERE JUST ONE LITTLE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM HERE! ACTUALLY THREE!!

1. GREECE IS PERMA-BROKE!
2. EGYPT IS BECOMING EL-SISI PERSONAL KINGDOM!
3. SAUDI. FUCKING. ARABIA. DID YOU ALL LIKED QATAR MIGRANT WORKERS MISTREATMENTS AND ALMOST NON EXISTENT WORKERS AND WOMEN´S RIGHTS? NOW GET READY FOR THIS BUT UP TO ELEVEN!!!

This is a amazing idea in paper, but only if reality wasn´t so cruel. But FIFA is FIFA, the only thing this bid needs to succeed and build a legacy of saudi-funded projects in three continents with questionable human rights records is to convince enough member federations at the time of the vote, and this has been set up to exploit the new system to such a degree that i even doubt that they will need to bribe anybody: You can have support of the three largest confederations, with over half of the over 200 members of FIFA, just in a single swoop! Unless this race becomes a free for all with no respect for confederation aligments, this one might be favorite to win it all, politically speaking. The South American bid has tradition on it´s side, but Athens felt entitled for 1996 and lost to Atlanta anyway. If this tri-continental bid get´s off the ground...it´s serious buisness, no matter what the European top leagues has to say about it being on winter.

Saudi Arabia has just announced they will foot the bill for this joint bid.…..

and they can afford to bring an oil rich nation.

The human rights issue is a big one for FIFA, as is the staging of the WC again in the European winter.

This is FIFA’s human rights position:

FIFA - Human Rights

[AustralianFan]

… and Greece has 8 international standard stadiums already.

[Guilga]

9 hours ago, AustralianFan said:

This is FIFA’s human rights position:

FIFA - Human Rights

Honestly, I don't think we should take these official documents about human rights standards of sporting federations seriously until this is reflected on the hosts they actually choose to host their events.

[AustralianFan]

13 minutes ago, Guilga said:

Honestly, I don't think we should take these official documents about human rights standards of sporting federations seriously until this is reflected on the hosts they actually choose to host their events.

Agreed.

But it looks like this bid is going ahead anyway.

Whether it ends up being elected host of the 2030 World Cup remains to be seen.

[yoshi]

This is FIFA - it's the surest of sure things that this ludicrous plan will be chosen. The genie is out of the bottle, the climate, the human rights record, and the timing can't be used as deal-breakers now they're going to Qatar in December this year, so the bid process can now be the straight up auction FIFA's always wanted, no other concerns at all. And nobody beats Saudi in an auction. 

[Guilga]

4 hours ago, yoshi said:

This is FIFA - it's the surest of sure things that this ludicrous plan will be chosen. The genie is out of the bottle, the climate, the human rights record, and the timing can't be used as deal-breakers now they're going to Qatar in December this year, so the bid process can now be the straight up auction FIFA's always wanted, no other concerns at all. And nobody beats Saudi in an auction. 

I would add that FIFA might never truly cared about the human rights bit, with Italy 1934 and Argentina 1978 in particular of note. The rest though, if they were a problem in first place, it was likely more because of tradition and european dominance at the sport´s politics and even then they had to have cooling breaks at 2014 which was during Brazilian Winter. Climate never really mattered as much as the calendar, but that is out of the window now. Luckly, a calendar switch doesn´t need an authoritarian regime to host to happen, so maybe this will be some positive legacy of the coming World Cup?

(of course, the concern for the crowded number of matches in the calendar for the male players is another discussion that doesn´t need to exclude the possibitity that the southern hemisphere have a World Cup in their summer instead of the north.)

[AustralianFan]

“Traditionally, the tournament is played during summer months, but for the 2022 Men’s World Cup, it was moved to November to avoid high heat in Qatar, so it’s not out of the question to do the same for 2030.”

 

[stryker]

Saudi Arabia - no booze

No chance in you know where that Budwesier would approve. They`d bail on FIFA so quick especially after the Qatar fiasco. They are FIFA`s number one sponsor and you don`t bite the hand that feeds you.

[StefanMUC]

4 hours ago, stryker said:

Saudi Arabia - no booze

No chance in you know where that Budwesier would approve. They`d bail on FIFA so quick especially after the Qatar fiasco. They are FIFA`s number one sponsor and you don`t bite the hand that feeds you.

Aramco (or the like) can replace them as sponsor. FIFA wants the money, no matter who pays it.

[AustralianFan]

5 hours ago, stryker said:

Saudi Arabia - no booze

No chance in you know where that Budwesier would approve. They`d bail on FIFA so quick especially after the Qatar fiasco. They are FIFA`s number one sponsor and you don`t bite the hand that feeds you.

At Qatar 2022, fans can buy beer with alcohol before and after each games, with only zero alcohol beer served during the games.

Things evolve but you would expect at least this at 2030 games in Saudi Arabia should this tri-bid be successful.

 

[stryker]

2 hours ago, AustralianFan said:

At Qatar 2022, fans can buy beer with alcohol before and after each games, with only zero alcohol beer served during the games.

Things evolve but you would expect at least this at 2030 games in Saudi Arabia should this tri-bid be successful.

 

Qatar is liberal compared to Saudi Arabia. The country is dry. Saudi Arabia is ultra conservative where the clerics still hold a great deal of influence. I lived in Riyadh. Although it's opened up somewhat it is still very conservative. Gender segregation as well is still widely enforced. No chance the Saudis would allow booze.

[Comped]

21 hours ago, stryker said:

Saudi Arabia - no booze

No chance in you know where that Budwesier would approve. They`d bail on FIFA so quick especially after the Qatar fiasco. They are FIFA`s number one sponsor and you don`t bite the hand that feeds you.

Way stricter than Qatar even on a good day. No way MBS, when he becomes King, will change that quickly.

12 hours ago, stryker said:

Qatar is liberal compared to Saudi Arabia. The country is dry. Saudi Arabia is ultra conservative where the clerics still hold a great deal of influence. I lived in Riyadh. Although it's opened up somewhat it is still very conservative. Gender segregation as well is still widely enforced. No chance the Saudis would allow booze.

Yep. And unless MBS ascends to the throne quickly, and decides that he wants to piss off the religious leadership, no chance he decides to liberalize that quickly. They still barely have cinemas in the country - for decades (I think about 25 years) there was 1 IMax theatre and that was the only movie theatre in the country. If/when World Cup 2022 goes badly (if fans are pissed about beer restrictions, or any number of things, and cause bad PR), it will sink Saudi's participation. Saudi have the religious police still as well, which will be absolute hell to deal with when it comes to westerners.

[yoshi]

All obviously true but Saudi still have unimaginable amounts of money, and FIFA are still FIFA, so unless and until the voters have an attack of brains and vote for one of the other bids, I'm not writing this off. We laughed at Qatar and look how that ended...

[stryker]

1 hour ago, Comped said:

Way stricter than Qatar even on a good day. No way MBS, when he becomes King, will change that quickly.

Yep. And unless MBS ascends to the throne quickly, and decides that he wants to piss off the religious leadership, no chance he decides to liberalize that quickly. They still barely have cinemas in the country - for decades (I think about 25 years) there was 1 IMax theatre and that was the only movie theatre in the country. If/when World Cup 2022 goes badly (if fans are pissed about beer restrictions, or any number of things, and cause bad PR), it will sink Saudi's participation. Saudi have the religious police still as well, which will be absolute hell to deal with when it comes to westerners.

MBS will probably be on the throne sooner rather than later has his father Salman is in ill health. While he has liberalized the Kingdom from where it was (bringing back cinemas, letting women drive, allowing concerts) even he realizes he has to tread lightly not to tick off the conservative base. I was there when cinemas reopened. It was quite the experience. But even today, there are restrictions. Single men can only attend "bachelor timings" where no women or children are allowed while women and families attend the "family showings". Gender segregation is still widely enforced. The soon-to-be-launched Riyadh metro will have enforced gender segregation and the same goes for sporting events. Hotels, while there are some nice ones, many of the facilities are restricted to men only (I remember the Ritz Carlton had one time slot a week where women could use the pool and gym). The religious police or mutwa as they are called locally are still around but their powers have been greatly curtailed. They can advise but can no longer arrest or detain anyone. They are even rarely seen. We saw them just once in a mall where this old man told my wife to cover her hair. Also, all shops and facilities close for each of the five prayers daily. As for the alcohol issue, we've already seen an instance where it was expected to be allowed but was not and that was the Saudi Grand Prix. F1 organizers did not expect booze in the crowd but at least hoped for the winner to be allowed to spray a bottle of champagne. Even this wasn`t permitted. A bottle of carbonated grape juice was used instead. If the Saudis would not allow this then there`s no chance they`d allow thousands of WC fans to enjoy a cold pint.