FIFA and Qatar update

Here's another update on a topic that I haven't discussed here in a while—FIFA embarrassing itself. If it seemed a little weird to anybody that Qatar was announced as the host nation for the 2022 World Cup, then... oh, let's be serious here, we all knew what was going on already, didn't we?

FIFA vice-president Michel Platini has defended his decision to vote for Qatar as 2022 World Cup host after a magazine in his native France alleged collusion among state and football leaders. 

"I reserve the right to sue anyone who questions my integrity in this vote," Platini, who is president of European governing body UEFA, said in a statement on Tuesday. 

Platini responded after France Football magazine published a 15-page cover story article titled Le Qatargate examining the Qatar World Cup project. 

The magazine detailed a November 2010 dinner in Paris at then-president Nicolas Sarkozy's official residence, attended by Platini and Qatar's crown prince, Sheik Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani. 

There, Sarkozy allegedly pressured Platini for political reasons to switch allegiance from the United States bid to Qatar in the FIFA vote nine days later, France Football suggested.

Platini is steadfast in his denials, but of course he is. Sarkozy, for his part, is currently under investigation in France for various violations (including illegal campaign financing), so it's clear that this whole situation is just one giant mess. Good times, go USA.

[Sydney Morning Herald]

Following up on an old rant

It's been a while since I've ranted about FIFA, hasn't it? Actually, no, it really hasn't been. But it seems like it has, and it certainly hasn't been for lack of material. When it comes to providing fodder for bitter bloggers like me, FIFA is second to none. Go ahead boys, show us what you've got today.

Having decided to play the tournament in the middle of summer in a country where temperatures regularly exceed 40C [104 F], Fifa have been wrestling with the problem of how the world's best players are going to cope with the conditions.

Air conditioned, indoor stadiums will help, but even that might not be enough to keep them at a safe temperature according to Michael Beavon, a director of Arup Associates, the company responsible for developing the zero-carbon solar technology intended to cool them.

As a result, one proposal being considered by Fifa is to play the 90 minute games over three 30-minute periods if the temperature inside the stadiums exceeds 30c [86 F] because of the potential health risks involved.

"There is a moderate risk of heat injury to the players between 24C-29C [75-84 F] but if you go above that you have high and extreme risk of injury, " said Beavon, who was speaking to delegates at the Qatar Infrastructure Conference in London.

"The one thing Fifa do say, although it is for guidance, is if it's 32C [90 F] they will stop a match and play three 30-minute thirds rather than two 45-minute halves."

Look, I'm already on record with my thoughts on choosing a nation such as Qatar to host your sport's biggest event. It's tone-deaf in almost every imaginable regard, and the choice has already offended (among others) environmentalists, gays, and the entire nation of Israel (and, likely by extension, the entire global Jewish community).

But it's one thing to be politically offensive. It's quite another to CHANGE THE RULES OF YOUR GAME in order to cover up your ridiculous (and corrupt) decisions. There's not a lot of hard and fast rules when it comes to choosing a World Cup host nation--yes, there are guidelines as to what a World Cup stadium should look like, but obviously those too were relaxed in order to award Qatar, a nation with zero Cup-ready venues, with the Cup.

But one would think that if there was to be even one rule, that rule would be "make sure that soccer can be played in this country". On that most basic of requirements, it's clear that Qatar has failed. This should pretty much be the end of the conversation, and yet here we are. Well played, FIFA. I can't wait for 2022. Save us, robot clouds!

[Telegraph]

Quote of the Week

From what I've read, I think I can assume that we all watched the Super Bowl on Sunday night. Well, most of us, anyway. Of course, with the terrible weather in Dallas all week long leading up to the big game, it seems like it was a game best watched from many hundreds of miles away.

From the four hour taxi waits to the fan injuries from falling ice to the ticket debacle, it seems like Dallas was unprepared for this event in every regard. Gladly, Sports Illustrated's Grant Wahl was here to sum it all up nicely for us.

This week's QUOTE OF THE WEEK

By the sounds of it, Qatar hosting the World Cup might work out better than Dallas hosting the Super Bowl.
             - Grant Wahl; Sports Illustrated columnist

Well said. I've made my feelings about the 2022 Qatar World Cup fairly clear, and let's hope things can't go any worse than they did this past week in Dallas. But who am I kidding? Of course they will.

[Twitter]

FIFA follow-up: I'm speechless

Yeah, I already ranted at length here about the Qatar World Cup situation (and I didn't even mention that the other World Cup awarded went to notoriously corrupt Russia, or that two FIFA Executive Committee members had already been barred from voting amid a bribery scandal), but this latest piece of news is just... wow. (Emphasis mine).

Yesterday Qatar won the right to host the 2022 World Cup, based on a bid with some wild ambitions. This is meant to be a carbon-neutral event, in the middle of a scorching desert, spread across 12 separate stadiums. But here's the kicker: A major contributor to the building plans is the son of Adolf Hitler's chief builder, Albert Speer. Could this be the most ambitious engineering feat and the largest public relations nightmare in sports since the 1936 Berlin Olympics?

About that PR problem: Five of the twelve stadiums created for the event will be designed by Albert Speer and Partners, according to Construction Week Online. If that name sounds familiar, it's because Speer's father was Hitler's favorite architect, whose neoclassical style became synonymous with the Third Reich.

We have to give Speer some credit: He has never engaged in politics, and managed to move his career past his name. This Spiegel article from 2007 mentions that he got his start in the Middle East, working in Saudi Arabia and Libya, and even suggests that his Nazi heritage has pushed him to work in countries that need the most help when it comes to human rights and democracy. Still, his contribution may not sit well with some soccer fans, especially when you consider the fact that Israeli citizens are legally barred from Qatar.

To be fair, Israeli citizens are barred from entering many Arabian countries, which speaks to how messed up things really are over in the Middle East (and why it's such a horribly risky decision to place some of the world's most talented and high-profile athletes right in the middle of it).

If the potentially negative PR from the oil/energy situation that I mentioned yesterday wasn't already enough, this brutal thumbing of the nose to Israel just takes FIFA's decision to the next level. I really can't come up with the proper words, so I'll just sit here and shake my head. Amazing, FIFA. Truly amazing.

[FastCo. Design]

FIFA says "f*** you" to the world

In the annals of terrible (and terribly selfish) decisions, the ever-corrupt FIFA delegation created a new category for itself today by awarding the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, a country with little soccer history, limited existing infrastructure, oppressive weather conditions, an incredibly small population, but very deep pockets. The United States, which welcomed record crowds when it hosted the 1994 World Cup, was the initial favorite but lost in the final round of voting.

Qatar, the smallest nation to host the World Cup, used its 30-minute presentation to underline how the tournament could unify a region ravaged by conflict. Presenters also promised to overcome summer heat of up to 130 degrees by air conditioning outdoor stadiums it will build, then dismantle and give to needy nations.

Really? That's your closing argument? Yikes. With so little going for it except money, there's simply no other conclusion to draw than that FIFA (like the voters in the delegation) was overwhelmed by Qatar's oil-lined bank accounts.

Former French star Zinedine Zidane (he of the infamous head-butt) will reportedly pocket $15 million for himself as a result of the Qatar win, after having appeared in a series of advertisements promoting the nation's bid. Given that, it's definitely not much of a reach to wonder if (or assume that) other pockets were lined during the bidding and voting process.

Qatar's soccer team itself has never qualified for the World Cup, and the nation has zero stadiums that are currently World Cup-ready (in contrast to the United States, which has dozens). Qatar has plans to build between 7 and 9 stadiums (reports vary) specifically for the Cup, many of which will be dismantled immediately afterward.

The nation made its innovative plans to air-condition the stadiums with solar technology a centerpiece of its bid, but its history must cast some doubt on its ability or willingness to actually see that plan through. Qatar is first in the world by a long shot in CO-2 emissions per capita--blowing away every other nation--at a rate nearly triple that of the United States.

By rewarding a nation with such an abysmally dubious distinction as that--and one which profits handsomely from the rest of the world's oil addiction--FIFA has sent a troubling message to the world. At a time when the whole world should be asking itself tough questions about its energy usage and what it means for our future (and I'm not just talking global warming, I'm talking about the question of what types of rogue governments we support with our inability to kick the oil habit), FIFA is instead cheerleading for one of the greatest benificiaries of our gluttonous oil consumption.

Is FIFA alone responsible for setting the precedent that the rest of the world should follow? Certainly not. But as the guardian of the world's most popular sport, it has political reach and clout that few organizations can claim, and today it showed that it has no interest in using that bully pulpit to bring social good. Today's vote isn't about promoting the global growth of soccer or of giving poor Middle Eastern kids a chance to enjoy the world's greatest game (to paraphrase Zidane). Those arguments are smokescreens, and weak ones at that. Today's decision was about money, pure and simple, and about utter indifference with regard to that money's source. Score one for big oil. Thanks, FIFA.


[ESPN]