Qatar Russia 2018 and 2022, the petrodollar purchase football

FIFA last week decided which countries would host the World Cup in the years 2018 and 2022-that of 2014 will, remember, in Brazil. The first reaction on our part was to lament the fact that the Iberian Bid, who started as a favorite, World runs out for Russia and Qatar. But having left a few days to rest our thoughts, I think we should reflect on two facts which have much substance.

The first concerns the President of the Royal Spanish Football Federation Angel Maria Villar, a man who has ruled on a whim without Spanish football clubs and politicians have not been able to limit its power, the last, Jaime Lissaveztky Secretary of State for Sport, which after much promise, ended his pants down with the date of the last federal election. A silly to the silly, Villar has been able to scale to the point of becoming vice president of the two most powerful bodies of football, FIFA and UEFA. Naive of me, I thought that feeding a Villar parasite as it might serve, at least to end up with a World Cup in Spain, to the delight of his ego and popular happiness.

However, when the hour of truth and after the English press has uncovered a scandal of buying and selling of votes in previous decisions, Villar saw how he mocked the World under their noses. Of course the first to make a fool of himself was, with a performance full of errors, performed with an attitude between easygoing and over-bearing in mind that still not be able to pronounce correctly the word football, as if to raise the error to personal brand -. Seeing his behavior seemed to have everything well tied and that the presentation was only a formality. But in the end, no nothing. Spain will have to wait at least eighteen years to host a World Cup so we can prepare: Mr. Fúrgol want to handle the roost for another twenty years ...

The other conclusion I draw from the decision of the FIFA is expecting in the headline, the petrodollar has purchased football. Having two candidates as the English and the Iberian I can not help but wonder why you have earned Russia and Qatar. The Russian seems more justifiable: a country with a long tradition of football and is a world power, even at the expense of an impoverished, economically resurgent, which leads to the typical argument that likes FIFA World to give emerging economies to give a boost thanks to football-argument that I never finish or to understand or believe me.

While Spain and Portugal has plenty already built stadiums that only appropriate reforms needed to hold a World Cup, Russia has only one field completely adapted to the demands, the Moscow Luzhniki Olympic and therefore should invest much money in construction of almost all locations. But anyway, the Russians were able to win the confidence of the members of FIFA promising measures for future tourists, spectators, such as the free transport if you have a ticket to see a match in the destination city.

But what the sky is crying and the matter of giving the World Cup in Qatar. Only three stadiums built, and its communications network is far from being acceptable to host millions of people. Both circumstances are quite logical if we think we are talking about a country whose population is less than a million and a half, something like the metropolitan area of Seville. His plan is to reform the three states that have and build from scratch nine, placing ten of them within a radius of 30 km alrededrdof the capital, Doha. And what will they do with many stadiums after the World Cup? Then down the majority, a million and half people do not need twelve stadiums for nothing ... (Of course, as you can see, the projects that have are amazing .)

And I wonder is what football culture is Qatar? Does anyone know the name of one player of that emirate? Does anyone know the name of the Qatari league team? Hardly: they have never participated in a World Cup sporting achievement and its maximum is reached after the quarter-finals of the Asian Cup ... Y or move much at once or will debut in the World Cup when they themselves organize, something that has never given in World Cup history.

My prognosis is clear: one way or another, Qatar has bought the World Cup. Among a few dozen have been grateful stomachs World Middle East in what surely will be one of the largest money-laundering business that we have the honor of seeing in our lives. Because this operation Qatari not the only interested party, much less: in this case, that many Europeans will fill their pockets with the 2022 Qatar operation ...

Photo | Olhares Magic
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