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

DLew On Roids

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I wonder how many hundreds of millions of Swiss francs Qatar delivered to FIFA HQ to make that deal happen.
 
To be fair, FIFA and Qatar totally deserve each other.  My only question is how far FIFA has to push the Europeans before their clubs realize they have far more financial power than Sepp and just walk away.  I'm interested in seeing if FIFA pushes the Diafra Sakho/AFCON issue, because that could be a huge wedge if they screw it up.
 

DJnVa

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Grant Wahl reporting the 2022 World Cup to take place in November and December.
 

Luis Taint

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So what happens with all the leagues, transfer windows. If they continue with club football, there is going to be great pressure on the stars to pass on the World Cup.
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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Luis Taint said:
So what happens with all the leagues, transfer windows. If they continue with club football, there is going to be great pressure on the stars to pass on the World Cup.
They will adjust the league schedules to have a shorter summer break and a long winter break during which the WC will run. It'll be a massive clusterfuck for all sorts of reasons but players won't be forced to choose between club and country.
 

Kliq

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The model would be how the NHL handles the Olympics, I assume. The only difference being that FIFA needs to get 30+ leagues on board for this to really work. I want Qatar to lose the WC for purely selfish reasons, in addition to the title of this thread.
 

Titans Bastard

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Won't this screw up the calendar for at least two years?  The Confederations Cup will be played in 2021, presumably in Qatar as well.  I don't think that will happen in the summer either.
 

dirtynine

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Among other more important things, no summer World Cup for 8 years would just be lousy. Nothing like a big outdoor watch party in December.
 

Jed Zeppelin

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FIFA gets the World Cup it deserves.
 
Russia, meanwhile, must be loving all the focus on Qatar even though it's just as likely (if not moreso) to be a shitshow in the end.
 

Zososoxfan

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My hopes for this getting moved take a shot here I think. A WC in Qatar during the summer would be impossible, and having it winter makes it more plausible. This makes me a sad panda (camel?).
 

moly99

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Jed Zeppelin said:
FIFA gets the World Cup it deserves.
 
Russia, meanwhile, must be loving all the focus on Qatar even though it's just as likely (if not moreso) to be a shitshow in the end.
 
As corrupt as Russia is as a country, there is a big difference between awarding the world cup to a country with no soccer tradition, terrible climate and 250,000 citizens as opposed to a country with a large population, economy, support for soccer and tolerable summer temperatures that we happen to dislike. Even in the winter Qatar has no domestic football players and no real use for the stadiums after the big show is over.
 
Similarly I would have no real problem with Iran hosting the Olympics since it has the existing stadiums, venues and population base to make it work. (Let's not forget that alcohol was illegal in much of Utah when Salt Lake City hosted the winter games, and polygamy is only illegal de jure there, not de facto. And China is just as bad from a human rights perspective as Russia.) I would never want to go to Tehran but I'm sure it would do a decent job as an Olympic host. An unpalatable host is different from a host that isn't capable of hosting the event it bid for.
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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soxhop411 said:
 
The Associated Press ‏@AP  45s45 seconds ago
BREAKING: FIFA says 2022 World Cup final in Qatar will be played on Dec. 18.
 
 
I can't wait to see a bunch of exhausted guys who just advanced far in the tournament have to return to their English clubs and then immediately face four league matches in ten days during the Festive period.
 
If other standard practices are maintained (a month-long tournament, at least two weeks beforehand for national team camps and practices), then domestic leagues will have to shut down around November 1st.  During that 11/1-12/18 period this year, Arsenal played seven Premier League fixtures and three Champions League matches.  My guess is that they will actually have the CL matchdays in January and simply eliminate the lag period between the group and knockout stages.  That seems easier than trying to cram the qualification process and the entire group stages into August/September/October.  The domestic leagues will probably just begin a little earlier and end a little later, maybe adding a couple midweek fixtures at various points.
 
Its going to be a great year for injuries!  And probably also a good year for smaller clubs who don't have a lot of internationals.
 

teddykgb

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Maybe this will be the impetus for the Premier League to incorporate some sort of winter break.  I could see them significantly altering the schedule, maybe in ways that are more sustainable long term.
 

Luis Taint

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Would the EPL consider playing the fixtures as is, but with larger squads? Not every player is on a national team.
 

theapportioner

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Luis Taint said:
Would the EPL consider playing the fixtures as is, but with larger squads? Not every player is on a national team.
I'd think not as the powerhouse teams have more to lose and would strongly object.

Assuming they don't shorten the season and do play into the summer, still, the top teams would be at a disadvantage I think since their players would be more tired. Could see some spoilers capture CL spots.
 

teddykgb

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Morgan's Magic Snowplow said:
 
No chance.  The TV networks would hate this and the squads of the top clubs would be ridiculously depleted.
 
It would give Liverpool a ridiculous advantage when the majority of their squad takes their typical group stage exit
 

SoxFanInCali

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California. Duh.
Under Rafa we had more Spain internationals than Barca or Madrid did, so that did us no favors when they won every tourney for a while.  I'm still convinced that's why Torres ultimately broke down.
 

SoxFanInCali

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California. Duh.
Some BBC reporters were arrested and had their equipment confiscated for reporting on the working conditions of Qatar's World Cup laborers.  Apparently they were being tracked from the moment they set foot into the country.
 
Link
 

Ale Xander

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At least Thanksgiving weekend will be fun
I'm expecting to be watching college football. Egg Bowl, Nebraska v. Iowa, etc. Thanksgiving weekend is always fun anyway, always too much stuff to watch and do and not enough time.

Edit: nm, this is before expansion
 

trekfan55

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The World Cup kills business (with the possible exceptions of bars and restaurants and that depends on the times of games as well) on the month it's on.

To stage a WC in November-December will be criminal to many businesses that live off the sales that occur at that time. Electronics guys will sell the TVs but that's about it.

I was in Ecuador during the WC in 2014 and all businesses complained that their usual Father's Day sales were crap because of the World Cup, and the fact that Ecuador was in it and that the matches were the week before and the week after Father's Day.

This without even starting to mention how it affects the European Leagues.
 

Philip Jeff Frye

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Think about all those scenes of fans watching games at the giant outdoor sites that they keep showing on TV - in London, Zagreb, Brussels, wherever. Those are going to be a lot less fun in December.
 

Royal Reader

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Every so often I wonder if they're going to come to their senses and play it in France or something. Nope.
 
Every so often I wonder if they're going to come to their senses and play it in France or something. Nope.
FWIW, Colombia backed out of hosting the 1986 World Cup much closer to the tournament itself than Qatar is to the 2018 tournament - reconsidering the decision would not be unprecedented, and there's still plenty of time (in theory) to back down from this if FIFA comes to its senses or the big European leagues were to start stamping their feet in protest:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup/10889437/Shadow-of-World-Cup-that-never-was-now-hangs-over-Qatar-after-bribery-fears-just-as-it-did-Colombia-in-1986.html
 

OCST

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I don’t mind altering the calendar to accommodate Qatar’s weather- otherwise whole parts of the world would never host. That’s not good.

I mind the graft, slavery, and manslaughter.
 

Jed Zeppelin

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Will there still be the two open weeks before the tournament for friendlies or will top teams have to press on without their entire starting XI?

I suppose one benefit is that the top players will theoretically be more fresh than they would otherwise be after a full domestic season + Europa, CL, etc. Of course, we'll find a way to run 35 year old Michael Bradley and 32 year old Jozy Altidore out there at the end of a grueling MLS campaign...
 
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Dummy Hoy

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Will there still be the two open weeks before the tournament for friendlies or will top teams have to press on without their entire starting XI?

I suppose one benefit is that the top players will theoretically be more fresh than they would otherwise be after a full domestic season + Europa, CL, etc. Of course, we'll find a way to run 35 year old Michael Bradley and 32 year old Jozy Altidore out there at the end of a grueling MLS campaign...
I no longer take qualifying for granted...