I can’t let the announcement of the 2018 and 2022 World Cup host countries go by without notice.
In 2018, crowds will be bored to death enthusiastically cheering for their favorite soccer/football teams in Russia. Four years later, the excruciatingly slow breath-taking event will take place in Qatar.
Sound familiar?
That’s right, for once, Formula 1 really is on the cutting edge. Only this time it is the cutting edge of embracing so-called “developing” countries as sites for big sporting events. (And, yes, according to the media, Russia counts as “developing.” Actually, I think that was the nicest thing the U.S. says about the country in the latest Wikileaks documents.)
Here’s a little more:
In a stunning pair of decisions Thursday, FIFA, world soccer’s governing body, voted to award the 2018 Men’s World Cup to Russia and the 2022 tournament to Qatar.
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It was a case of FIFA boldly going where FIFA has not gone before. The World Cup has never been staged in either the former Eastern bloc or in the Middle East.
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England and the U.S. originally had been favored to host the 2018 and 2022 tournaments, respectively, but they fell by the wayside earlier in the voting in Switzerland by the 22 memebers of FIFA’s executive committee.
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The twin decisions were announced in Zurich by Joseph “Sepp” Blatter, FIFA’s president, and were greeted by spontaneous celebrations in the winning countries.
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“We go to new lands,” Blatter said.
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The 2010 World Cup was held in South Africa and the 2014 tournament will be played in Brazil.
England and America? Who in their right minds would put on a big sporting event in either of those countries? FIFA is right!
How do I know?
Because Bernie already has done this.
