Russia and Qatar win the race to host FIFA World Cup
A 22-member FIFA board announced on Thursday that Russia and Qatar would host the finals of FIFA World Cup in 2018 and 2022, respectively. This would be the first time for both these countries, who won the race after facing a tough competition from other
countries, with higher probabilities of winning. Sepp Blatter, the president of FIFA, announced the results in Zurich, Switzerland, the football capital of the World.
England, Netherlands/Belgium and Spain/Portugal were the rivals against Russia. After winning the nomination, the Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Igor Shuvalov, showed his happiness over Russia’s debut in hosting the World Cup finals. Shuvalov told that the
committee would not regret making this decision and choosing Russia over some strong competitors.
Qatar also faced tough opposition from Australia, Japan, South Korea and the USA. It was a historic moment as for the first time in history, the World Cup would be held in the Middle East, a region better known for violence and wars. Also, after the joint
venture of Japan and South Korea, it would be for the second time that the World Cup would be played in Asia.
However, the selection of Qatar as a venue came as a surprise to a lot of people. Australia and USA had better bids and presentations for the 2022 World Cup, but Qatar was given an edge over the other two nations. But, the fact of the matter is that the
World Cup finals are held in summer, which is extremely tough in Qatar, where temperatures rise to more than 50 degrees Celsius. Also, Qatar is a small country and the stadiums for the tournament lie in the close proximity of each other, which was another
objection against Qatar’s bid for 2022.
The selection of Russia came as a big surprise for England and their main propagator and the former captain, David Beckham. It is allegedly being said that the media is responsible for England’s failure to win the race. It was BBC’s Panorama programme, which
blamed a few FIFA officials, present on the committee, for corruption and taking bribes to take sides. It is being felt that the team England failed because of these allegations, despite of putting the best bid in front of the board. Even the President of
FIFA described the English presentation as “excellent and remarkable.”
After the ceremony, David Beckham showed his disappointment over the announcements, because he felt that the hard work by his team was utterly disregarded. However, the former captain did not blame anybody for the failure to win the bid, but he congratulated
his staff for putting up a great case for England. When asked about the BBC Panorama programme, David Beckham said that the media was behind their country and did help England throughout the way.
The Russians won their bid after adopting a clever strategy in their presentation. Russians said that they represented the Eastern part of Europe, where the World Cup has never been held. On the other hand, the Western European countries have hosted the
finals on ten occasions, giving an edge to the Russians. It was a similar strategy that was adopted by Rio, in order to win their bid for 2016 Olympics. At that time, the bid from USA was rejected, despite their President Barack Obama leading the campaign
for his country.
The other nations were also disappointed after losing their cases, but all of them wished the best to the winners on the day, i.e. Russia and Qatar. Nevertheless, there were a lot of people anticipating to get the World Cup in England, but they have all
been disappointed. Russia, on the other hand, is also a great nation, where summers are pleasant and beautiful. There is no doubt that the country is capable of hosting a mega tournament, as they have the stadiums and the resources as well. Qatar, on the other
hand, will have to work very hard in order to improve their standards, but they still have almost twelve years to make their preparations.
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