2022 World Cup In Qatar: 1,000 Workers Already Dead

SumnerH

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DennyDoyle'sBoil

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I'm so disappointed about it being in Qatar. I can't imagine going there. I think the hotel situation is going to be a mess. There isn't even a reasonably close city you could stay and go in and out except maybe Dubai or possibly somewhere in Israel. Istanbul theoretically. I guess the good news is that the stadiums will be all be centrally located and so you won't need to move around a lot.

I was just looking at the WC 2022 page on wikipedia and it's like a bad joke. It's like a bad SNL skit -- like a 30 second commercial to "come to Qatar for the World Cup." Actually, it wouldn't even be funny. What an absolute joke.

Even with all the slave labor, it looks like the ability to deliver 8 stadiums may be optimistic. I think there's like a zero point zero percent chance that the tournament gets moved. But I wonder if maybe they will end up playing some of the games somewhere else. There are three stadiums in Istanbul that could probably be made FIFA compliant fairly quickly (I think at least one already is), and more if you went as far west as Italy.

Edit: Actually, I guess, you could make a good base in Muscat. Maybe it could be made into a good trip after all. Visit Petra, hang out in Muscat, see some games.
 
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singaporesoxfan

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I'm so disappointed about it being in Qatar. I can't imagine going there. I think the hotel situation is going to be a mess. There isn't even a reasonably close city you could stay and go in and out except maybe Dubai or possibly somewhere in Israel. Istanbul theoretically. I guess the good news is that the stadiums will be all be centrally located and so you won't need to move around a lot.
Who knows by 2022, but right now you can't fly directly from either Dubai or Israel into Qatar.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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Who knows by 2022, but right now you can't fly directly from either Dubai or Israel into Qatar.
Oh, right, I forgot about that. Yeah, it's a long way off, but I assume that if things continue the way they are going in that region, Qatar's neighbors will be even more happy not less to make things difficult during the World Cup. I understand that Saudi Arabia is planning to dig a canal along its border to try to turn Qatar into an island.
 

InstaFace

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an arabian-peninsula unified plan, between Qatar, Bahrain, Dubai, Saudi, maybe Kuwait, etc, might be viable from a stadium perspective. Of course, none of those other places greased the right palms.

Security is going to be an absolute shitshow, even leaving aside neighboring countries putting the screws to Qatar just on general principles.
 

Ale Xander

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I can't imagine any North American who thinks they'll be alive 4 years later, any European Jew, any Israeli, or any LGTBQ person, would be even thinking of going to this one.
 

Kliq

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The Qatar situation really does feel like the bottom of the barrel for FIFA corruption, with the exception of them just rewarding a World Cup Championship to the highest bidder or something like that. I mean seriously, the stupidest thing they could do to the 2022 World Cup was hold in Qatar and that is what they did! It's so obvious this was one of the worst locations on earth to host the tournament, but they greased the palms of enough people and all of sudden it's headed for Qatar. I'm sure the games will be entertaining; but outside of that the tournament is going to suck for everyone involved in the game, from the players to the leagues to the fans.
 

Ale Xander

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Say all the major Euro leagues and composite teams band together and told their players you have to stay here and play the league games to get paid, and it was effective, who would be the favorites? Russia? Mexico? US without Pulisic? Turkey? Brazil with their 4th deep team?
 

Bosoxen

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Say all the major Euro leagues and composite teams band together and told their players you have to stay here and play the league games to get paid, and it was effective, who would be the favorites? Russia? Mexico? US without Pulisic? Turkey? Brazil with their 4th deep team?
Most of Mexico's top players play in Europe. They'd take a major hit if they were forced to play with only domestic-based players. You'd basically see no change for Mexico relative to the field - even in this hypothetical tournament they'd be a middle-of-the-road team. And that's assuming Liga MX teams would even release their top players, since the timing of this tournament would overlap with the Apertura playoff.

I want to say FIFA could not have fucked this up more but I'm afraid of them trying to prove me wrong.
 

Jed Zeppelin

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The Qatar situation really does feel like the bottom of the barrel for FIFA corruption, with the exception of them just rewarding a World Cup Championship to the highest bidder or something like that. I mean seriously, the stupidest thing they could do to the 2022 World Cup was hold in Qatar and that is what they did! It's so obvious this was one of the worst locations on earth to host the tournament, but they greased the palms of enough people and all of sudden it's headed for Qatar. I'm sure the games will be entertaining; but outside of that the tournament is going to suck for everyone involved in the game, from the players to the leagues to the fans.
Meanwhile Alexi Lalas and co. will be waxing poetic about how great it is because FIFA handed Fox the 2026 rights to compensate for what a shitshow it actually is.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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Yeah, I agree, though I don't like the Pan-Europe concept. I would like to see regional hosting for Euro. I think a Scandinavian tournament could work. Maybe a northern baltics if they could swing it -- maybe too big an ask but I think a tournament in Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania would be excellent. But maybe best of all if it could be made to happen would be a Czechia, Hungary, Slovakia tournament. Probably would have to add Austria or Poland to make it work but that would be a really excellent tournament if they could make it happen. Maybe Slovenia if they have any usable stadiums in Bratislava. We don't need more Spain, France or Germany Euros. Well, maybe Spain. But I guess it's going to be Turkey next.

I like that there will be not automatic qualification for Euro 2020. Maybe the WC 2026 will follow suit. And maybe Qatar getting an automatic qualification will be such a farce that the concept will be done away with. I think it's part of the impediment to more interesting tournaments.
 

Investor 11

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Yeah, I agree, though I don't like the Pan-Europe concept. I would like to see regional hosting for Euro. I think a Scandinavian tournament could work. Maybe a northern baltics if they could swing it -- maybe too big an ask but I think a tournament in Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania would be excellent. But maybe best of all if it could be made to happen would be a Czechia, Hungary, Slovakia tournament. Probably would have to add Austria or Poland to make it work but that would be a really excellent tournament if they could make it happen. Maybe Slovenia if they have any usable stadiums in Bratislava. We don't need more Spain, France or Germany Euros. Well, maybe Spain. But I guess it's going to be Turkey next.

I like that there will be not automatic qualification for Euro 2020. Maybe the WC 2026 will follow suit. And maybe Qatar getting an automatic qualification will be such a farce that the concept will be done away with. I think it's part of the impediment to more interesting tournaments.
Looks like Bratislava has a brand new 23,000 person stadium opening this summer.

And Ljublana, which is I what I think you meant to reference with Slovenia, has a newish stadium but it seems to only hold 16k for soccer.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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And Ljublana, which is I what I think you meant to reference with Slovenia
I just got confused. Looks like it's not really feasible. The next Euro that will go up for bid is 2028 and I doubt that stadiums of less than 40 or 50k will really be in the running, absent like Iceland getting a game or something unique as part of a northern Europe bid.
 

67YAZ

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The Saudis put billions on the table to back the proposed changes to the Club World Cup. Those plans are being stymied by the UEFA contingent...so the conspiratorial minded part of me thinks Infantino is trying to hold on to that sweet, sweet Saudi cash by cutting them in on the World Cup. And the Saudis, of course, wouldn't mind taking some of the wind out of Qatar's sails, forcing their smaller regional rival to share the games.

But Infantino is very believable when he says FIFA is and must always be apolitical.
 

Ale Xander

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Making the project bigger seems like a great idea. Good thing all the countries in that region have a great history of diplomacy.
If you have chance to play in Dubai or Bahrain instead of Qatar, don't you do it?
 

67YAZ

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Infantino claiming that an enlarged 2022 World Cup shared by Middle East nations would help bring peace to the region.

“Maybe football is a way to build bridges. We have seen as well with the bidding for 2026, the right to organise the World Cup was awarded to three countries [the USA, Canada and Mexico] which I think also don’t have the very best political or diplomatic relationships. But football makes miracles, as we know.”
Very clear now that the Saudis have bought Infantino. Not that I'm shocked, but it is disappointing to see FIFA go this way when there was a possibility of becoming a respectable organization after Blatter's fall.
 

Kliq

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Comparing the US and Canada relationship to Qatar and Saudi Arabia isn’t exactly an apples to apples comparison.