Why Qatar as World Cup hosts?

You should see the feedback in the European media today about Qatar being awarded the hosting of the 2022 FIFA World Cup. It is utter disbelieve, many feel it is a joke and then there are the statements which say only money and power within FIFA allowed the small state of Qatar to win the rights to host a World Cup.

Here some reactions:
The Spanish El Mundo had the headline: "The power of gas and oil."

"Russia and Qatar, with projects that were technically very weak but with huge fortunes, win 2018 and 2022 respectively," it added.

In the Netherlands daily AD wrote: "With Qatar, FIFA has chosen an attack on the environment, for a World Cup in air-conditioned stadiums consuming enormous amounts of energy."

Japan's business daily Nikkei said: "Qatar, which has never qualified for the World Cup finals, had a weapon in its abundant financial resources based on oil money," it said.
Just as info, Japan hadn't qualified for a World Cup when it was chosen as a host for 2002.

The Seattle Times simply stated: "Qatar? Really?"

America's Time magazine wrote: "Both Russia and Qatar are ruled by strong, uncompromising governments -- one steered by post-Soviet apparatchiks with the tacit backing of a tycoon oligarchy, and the other the hereditary bequest of a family that can trace itself back to pre-Islamic times."


One thing which the heartland of football Europe still hasn't understood is that club football surely revolves around the UEFA Champions League and the top leagues in England, Spain, Germany and Italy; but the World Cup as it says is a global event and FIFA correctly is looking to spread the game though off course other things matter as well. And with other parts of the world also growing economically an interesting decade is ahead of us with a potential shift elsewhere...

But is it so surprising as many say? Those of us who football Asian football and also know a little bit about how the football business works at the global and continental level, then you will know that Qatar is one of the strongest countries in Asia due to the fact that the Asian Football Confederation president Mohamed bin Hamman is a Qatari. And bin Hamman is seen as a potential successor of current FIFA president Sepp Blatter. So he does have some clout with key members of the executive committee.

So why Qatar? If you look at Asia, then Japan and South Korea have just hosted their World Cup in 2002, Australia is now part of Asian football but not really there yet, so who else remains? In the future the big one's like China and India would be candidates, but not at the moment and then there is the Middle East, but there due to the political climate only a Qatar or the United Arab Emirates could play host for such a massive tournament as the football World Cup. And for the above mentioned reasons Qatar was always first choice in the Middle East.

And the 2011 AFC Asian Cup next month will now become a test for Qatar's capability to organise football events. The Asian show piece event is a good chance to show what they are capable off, but to avoid the summer heat the tournament was shifted to January. And that will be the biggest task of cooling the stadia to a playable temperature if it is close to 50°C in June/July when normally World Cup's are played.

A delighted Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad Al-Thani expressed gratitude for the honour of hosting football's greatest tournament, while insisting that Qatar's historic FIFA World Cup would meet all expectations. "Thank you for believing in change, for expanding the game and for giving Qatar a chance," he said. "You will be proud of us - and you will be proud of the Middle East. I promise you this!"

And one thing you can certainly believe, if Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad Al-Thani is behind a project then it will be success. He will personally ensure that.