[Football] 2034 World Cup and Saudi Arabia.
- Thread starter Leekbrookgull
- Start date
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beorhthelm
A. Virgo, Football Genius
- Jul 21, 2003
- 36,499
a national association quit over being non-alcohol... rather than their human rights record? i'd rather hope they wouldn't actually.I'm not that bothered about drinking at football matches - not that I don't drink, sometimes rather more than is good for me, just it never occurred to me, 60 years ago, to have a drink at the football when I first went to one, so I never have since - but maybe the Saudi ban on alcohol (and it looks like on our LBG fellow-fans too) should be the straw that breaks the camel's back, as it were, and finally takes the event away from Saudi and moves it to a civilised country?
It only requires two or three national associations to break ranks and say no, we're not going; maybe we'll arrange an alternative event among ourselves and invite a few other countries to join in, and the strains at FIFA would cause it to wobble on its commitment to beheaders.
Yeh, I know it won't happen, sadly - and that's the annoying thing; it could happen, it could happen so easily - but because of an acute shortage of spines it won't.
GT49er
Well-known member
Doing a god thing - even if for the wrong reasons? I can think of far worse things!
US Seagull
Well-known member
An interesting podcast about Saudi Arabian history, and their aims with investing in sports:
Nottseagull
Well-known member
I'm presuming here that you don't know Mexico hosted it in 1970 and 1986. Yep, that will soon be 3 times since England last did so.
- Apr 5, 2014
- 28,562
The 1986 hosting was an outlier mind. They basically replaced Colombia who pulled out at relatively short notice.
GT49er
Well-known member
So it doesn't count then? Mexico haven't really had (or about to have) three World Cups since we last had one?
That's OK then. Fifa's alright, aren't they.
- Apr 5, 2014
- 28,562
I think the point is that England have never bid for a World Cup in which the winner of the vote had held the tournament more times than them previously.
There comes a point when the lapsed time doesn't really matter.
With the rotation policy as it is now it will be much harder too. And, of course, with FIFA and their ways.
UEFA are very different. Wembley will soon have held more finals than anywhere else. I think it already has where domestic European finals are concerned. England pretty much being the most appointed nation. Platini had a thing about Wembley.
GT49er
Well-known member
Probably somebody paid him enough to!
Although of course I’d like to see the major tournaments here, I’m actually pleased when the tournaments are hosted in a decent football country that you can get to and probably prefer that to the idea of it being here now. That was certainly true for the Euros, I really enjoyed it in France and Germany and not sure I’m happy it’s here next time as opposed to,say, somewhere like Spain, but let’s see.
However it’s different for the World Cup as their choice of host always leaves me bewildered and thinking that it’s just lost its allure and will never be what it was when it was hosted by just one decent football nation such as Italy. The pull of the oil nations (and I include Russia in that) is just too much for their corrupt committees to ignore. Credit where it’s due though - the now innocent Blatter was a divisive figure for sure but with Infantino they have managed to take things to a new low which I never thought possible.
However it’s different for the World Cup as their choice of host always leaves me bewildered and thinking that it’s just lost its allure and will never be what it was when it was hosted by just one decent football nation such as Italy. The pull of the oil nations (and I include Russia in that) is just too much for their corrupt committees to ignore. Credit where it’s due though - the now innocent Blatter was a divisive figure for sure but with Infantino they have managed to take things to a new low which I never thought possible.