Sir Rols Posted July 31, 2007 Report Share Posted July 31, 2007 Now here's a strange news item. It's not as if old Sepp is widely respected and we're getting used to his shooting his mouth off to suit his audience of the moment, but came across this news item where he gets stuck into the IOC. Hmmm: ZURICH, Switzerland, July 31, 2007 (AFP) - The International Olympic Committee was criticised by FIFA president Sepp Blatter here Tuesday as a ``very special and exclusive club''. Blatter, asked whether is was possible to organise the 2014 World Cup in Brazil after two failed attempts by Rio de Janeiro to host the Olympic Games, said that the ``IOC has always denied'' an African and South American country the Games. The last Olympics to be held in South America were in Mexico in 1968. He added: ``The IOC is a club, a very special club. There are 115 members, 15 come from national federations, 15 from international federations and 15 are athletes. The other 70 members are co-opted or appointed.'' Under Blatter's reign FIFA has installed a rotation system by continent which allowed South Africa to host the 2010 World Cup finals following Germany in 2006 and Japan in 2002. Brazil, the only candidate bidding to host the 2014 World Cup, on Tuesday officially presented its bid at the headquarters of world football's governing body FIFA in Zurich. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baron-pierreIV Posted August 1, 2007 Report Share Posted August 1, 2007 Rol, please stop!! It's too painful!! Of course, we all know the report is off since Mexico ain't in "South" America. Why did Brazil even bother with a 900-page bid? Why, that's some 200 pages longer than "HP and the Deathly Hallows"! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Filipe_Golias Posted August 1, 2007 Report Share Posted August 1, 2007 It's got nice wood casing, though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mainad Posted August 1, 2007 Report Share Posted August 1, 2007 I fear it's going to take poor Sepp quite a while to read through that lot! I do hope it has lots of pictures and illustrations to help him!! BTW,can he read Portuguese?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Filipe_Golias Posted August 1, 2007 Report Share Posted August 1, 2007 900 pages? It's bound to have an English section... and French, while they're at it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mainad Posted August 1, 2007 Report Share Posted August 1, 2007 900 pages? It's bound to have an English section... and French, while they're at it. You mean he will have to read it all in 3 languages?? It's worse than I thought!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mainad Posted August 1, 2007 Report Share Posted August 1, 2007 900 pages? It's bound to have an English section... and French, while they're at it. You mean he will have to read it all in 3 languages?? It's worse than I thought!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Filipe_Golias Posted August 1, 2007 Report Share Posted August 1, 2007 Well, he's a Swiss after all, so he does know at least 3 languages from heart Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baron-pierreIV Posted August 2, 2007 Report Share Posted August 2, 2007 No, I think the 900 pages is indicative of the outside agency (my guess is Hill + Knowlton) they hired to put the bid book together. For one thing, they submitted 18 sites PLUS the 4 new ones - so FIFA will take its time looking at the 22 stadia -- altho essentially quite old -- but hey! FIFA wants Brazil!! And it looks like the Lula administration is sending the message -- if you think you're getting another Korea-Japam-Germany spending extravaganza, you can look elsewhere... They rushed to get it in on time before the bad press came out for Rio 2007! And the outside agency that put it together will probably be charging per page -- so maybe from a contract price of $500,000; the agency will bill Brazil $600,000 and said they got it to Lausanne AHEAD OF SCHEDULE!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob2012 Posted August 2, 2007 Report Share Posted August 2, 2007 If Brazil can pull it off it will be an amazing World Cup though, I don't think you can doubt that. Few nations love football as much as Brazil. So long as ordinary fans aren't priced out of games (as was the case in the dour cricket world cup in the Windies which should have been a carnival atmosphere but wasn't) then it'll great, even if the stadiums aren't new and shiny. If I had a choice between Brazil with their older stadiums but amazing fans and a lesser footballing nation (say, China) who'd build lots of shiny new stadiums, I'd pick Brazil every time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olympian2004 Posted August 2, 2007 Report Share Posted August 2, 2007 For one thing, they submitted 18 sites PLUS the 4 new ones - so FIFA will take its time looking at the 22 stadia That's wrong. It's a total of 18 stadia -- 14 old and 4 new ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Citius Altius Fortius Posted August 2, 2007 Report Share Posted August 2, 2007 The International Olympic Committee was criticised by FIFA president Sepp Blatter here Tuesday as a ``very special and exclusive club''. In German we have the phrase "ausgerechnet der muss das sagen", which has nearly the same meaning of "he of all people dares to say this" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faster Posted August 2, 2007 Report Share Posted August 2, 2007 If I am not mistake FIFA has said that no stadiums in Brazil currently meet FIFA standards, this means that the stadiums will have to be upgraded and polished, so it won't be that bad. I think Brazil and Germany are comparable in their strategy. Both knew what they need and what they can maintain and made their plans accordingly. Munich and Leipzig needed new stadiums and Olympiastadion needed to be upgraded. Also every stadium has nee Leipzig have a major tenant that can draw the crowds and all have suitable capacities and didn't try to go overboard. Compare this to Korea and Japan would both had 10 stadiums with only 3 stadiums hosting more than 3 matches, Germany had no stadium host less than 5. Korea and Japan wasted money and built too many stadiums that have no reason to exist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baron-pierreIV Posted August 2, 2007 Report Share Posted August 2, 2007 Except for the 4 cities that were planning new ones anyway (but of which our resident expert, Rominger, said only 2 are really viable in the final placement of 9 cities since 2 of the newbies qualify as 'major' cities; then the remaining 7 (or 6) since Maracana was greatly upgraded for the PanAms, really need major work done on them. But if you will notice, those remaining ones are either in the shape of a big oval (where the 2 ends are pretty much useless or will be very cheap seats; or they are circular affairs like the Melbourne Cricket Ground stadium, where again even the long sides do NOT offer the best views. (Not to mention alignment of these older stadia's axis with regards to the sun -- and determing what would be the optimum visual broadcast times and what time matches can be scheduled.) If FIFA wants brand-new shiny stadia for its big extravaganva, they should have checked things out for themselves before opening the door for Brazil. I can just hear the FIFA board saying "No" -- only 1 or 2 stadia meet FIFA World Cup standards, "....you will essentially have to provide us with better (read - new) facilities if you want to match up to the last 3 (including RSA 2010) World Cups." Let's see who will blink first. I think 2014 is anything but a closed 900-page book at this point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arwebb Posted August 2, 2007 Report Share Posted August 2, 2007 If I had a choice between Brazil with their older stadiums but amazing fans and a lesser footballing nation (say, China) who'd build lots of shiny new stadiums, I'd pick Brazil every time. You're not alone in that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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