FIFA World Cup: Bidding for the World Cup hosting rights are underway- AFC president wants Qatar to host 2022 World Cup, Europe or U.S.A strong contenders for 2018 bid
The President of the Asian Football Confederation, Mohamed Bin Hammam has put his confidence in Qatar for the 2022 World Cup. After some long meetings in the headquarters and after many discussions and shadowy diplomatic votes, Hammam has informed that he is backing Qatar to host the FIFA 2022 World Cup.
The 24 executives of FIFA have to decide who will host the World Cup and at the moment, the two dozen characters are set to choose the victors for the bid of hosting the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. It is expected that the final answer for that will be delivered on the 2nd of December this year at Zurich.
President Hammam signified the importance of the event to return to Asia for the second time. He stated that the last time the tournament occurred in Asia, it left a huge impact and the region of the diverse games became united under a football fever. He believes that there is much that has to be done in order to improve and promote the level of football in the continent.
The last World Cup that took place in Asia was in 2002 and the host countries were Japan and South Korea. It was a hugely successful event with 32 countries from 5 confederations attending. The average attendance for each match was around 42,500 with 20 venues in 20 cities.
Brazil won their 5th World title back then, with Germany coming in as the runners up, while Turkey came in 3rd and Korea Republic or South Korea came in 4th. Ronaldo was the highest goal scorers with 8 goals and Oliver Kahn became the tournaments best player.
The AFC president has clarified that if Qatar won’t be willing to host the tournament, then his vote would be with the other 3 Asian countries that are willing to host the tournament. The president has stated that he wants Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup however, he has not yet had final talks with the country but if they are not willing for the honour, he will have to assist other willing countries.
The 61 year old Hammam who was born in Doha, Qatar explained, “I have one vote... And frankly speaking, I will vote for Qatar but if Qatar is not in the run, I will vote for another Asian country”.
He continued while talking to media attending a football convention in Singapore, “I am president of Asia, so it is my duty to see that World Cup will be hosted in Asia no matter which country”.
So far, Qatar, South Korea, Japan and Australia which are all associates of AFC have put in a bid for the honours of hosting the 2022 World Cup. The FIFA World Cup happens to be the biggest sporting event on Earth and only the Olympics have the capacity to challenge enormity of the event.
On the other hand, England, Russia and the United States are also in contention to host the 2022 World Cup. They in fact have qualified themselves also in the race to host the 2018 World. Other contenders for the honour of hosting Spain-Portugal and Netherlands-Belgium are lining up. However, one thing is for sure, if Europe is able to get the glory of hosting the World Cup, then the European countries would be disqualified from bidding for the 2022 World Cup.
It has been decided that the 2014 World Cup will be held in Brazil but with the race for the 2018 World Cup still, is wide open. The Americans are planning a gigantic coup. David Beckham was the man who represented England bid for the 2018 World Cup and after that the American actor Brad Pitt has decided that he wants to confront the celebrity and bring the honour of hosting the World Cup for his country. He has stated, “Soccer is a truly global sport and the opportunity to join the effort to have the US host the world’s greatest sporting event again is a great honour”.
The massive coup is fuelled by senators from USA that have written in a letter to the President of FIFA, Sepp Blatter, “We can think of no better way to show America’s enthusiasm for the sport than to again play gracious host to the world’s athletes and spectators in the coming years.”
They persuaded him by reminisces of the last World Cup held in the nation, “With memories of the successful World Cup in 1994, we hope to be given the opportunity to provide the coming generation with an event that is greater in scale and grander than any before”.
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