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I'm ambivalent about the world cup in Qatar. I think it will be positive in encouraging loosening of the oppressive regime there. It's also unfortunately one

I'm ambivalent about the world cup in Qatar. I think it will be positive in encouraging loosening of the oppressive regime there. It's also unfortunately one of the more viable options in the middle east where football is THE sport of the people.* If no booze is served all that means is Muslims may be more comfortable attending. Who cares about alcohol anyways. * where else? Saudi? That'd be even worse. Turkey is ideal, but really cant afford it as inflation hits 85+%. Israel would be good but unfortunately most Arabs would struggle to travel there nor is it safe. Dubai/UAE might work, but ultimately have same issues.

smcl 4y ago
You're right that Turkey would've been ideal were it not for the recent financial troubles, though I wonder if a big event like the World Cup could have eliminated or at least delayed this crisis. If you look a bit further afield than just the Middle East, Egypt or Morocco (or some dual bid) may have been good options too. I think you're right to discount Israel, to be honest not just because of safety and access issues but because it's a relatively small country that can't reasonably support stadia of the size and quality required to host the World Cup. They've three ~30k seaters which is ok but the rest are absolutely tiny - to be honest even the Greater Glasgow area likely has a better selection and there's not a hope in hell of even a Scotland bid (outside there's one >60k, three around 20-22k and a dozen more 10-19k). These smaller nations would do much better to submit joint bid - most countries can afford at least a couple of white elephant stadia if they don't already have a few bigger teams that could occupy them - but with Israel, I can't think who they'd host with.
jakear 4y ago
Bahrain is the obvious answer IMO. They're already the Arabian party people state.

smcl 4y ago

You're right that Turkey would've been ideal were it not for the recent financial troubles, though I wonder if a big event like the World Cup could have eliminated or at least delayed this crisis. If you look a bit further afield than just the Middle East, Egypt or Morocco (or some dual bid) may have been good options too. I think you're right to discount Israel, to be honest not just because of safety and access issues but because it's a relatively small country that can't reasonably support stadia of the size and quality required to host the World Cup. They've three ~30k seaters which is ok but the rest are absolutely tiny - to be honest even the Greater Glasgow area likely has a better selection and there's not a hope in hell of even a Scotland bid (outside there's one >60k, three around 20-22k and a dozen more 10-19k). These smaller nations would do much better to submit joint bid - most countries can afford at least a couple of white elephant stadia if they don't already have a few bigger teams that could occupy them - but with Israel, I can't think who they'd host with.

jakear 4y ago

Bahrain is the obvious answer IMO. They're already the Arabian party people state.