stripeyfox Posted 31 October 2018 Posted 31 October 2018 https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/46042794 The expansion of the World Cup from 32 to 48 teams could be brought forward from 2026 to 2022, says Fifa president Gianni Infantino. The change would require Qatar to share 2022 hosting duties with other countries in the region. The decision has already been taken to expand the tournament in 2026, when it will be held in the USA, Canada and Mexico, and Infantino is now considering doing the same for 2022. "If it is possible, why not?" he said. "We have to see if it is possible, if it is feasible. We are discussing with our Qatari friends, we are discussing with our many other friends in the region and we hope that this can happen. "And, if not, we will have tried. We will have tried because we always have to try to do things in a better way." Speaking at the opening of the Asian Football Confederation's new headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Infantino also reiterated his plans to expand the Club World Cup. He said he wants to make it a "real competition" that "every club in the world can target".
Izzy Posted 31 October 2018 Posted 31 October 2018 Might as well go the whole hog and make it 64 teams This year’s WC was brilliant. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
davieG Posted 31 October 2018 Posted 31 October 2018 2 hours ago, stripeyfox said: https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/46042794 The expansion of the World Cup from 32 to 48 teams could be brought forward from 2026 to 2022, says Fifa president Gianni Infantino. The change would require Qatar to share 2022 hosting duties with other countries in the region. The decision has already been taken to expand the tournament in 2026, when it will be held in the USA, Canada and Mexico, and Infantino is now considering doing the same for 2022. "If it is possible, why not?" he said. "We have to see if it is possible, if it is feasible. We are discussing with our Qatari friends, we are discussing with our many other friends in the region and we hope that this can happen. "And, if not, we will have tried. We will have tried because we always have to try to do things in a better way." Speaking at the opening of the Asian Football Confederation's new headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Infantino also reiterated his plans to expand the Club World Cup. He said he wants to make it a "real competition" that "every club in the world can target". I thought the Qatari's where out of favour with the other countries in the region.
Dan Posted 31 October 2018 Posted 31 October 2018 This is everything FIFA are about. Diluting the overall quality to pander to people.
Flamey Posted 1 November 2018 Posted 1 November 2018 14 hours ago, stripeyfox said: He said he wants to make it a "real competition" that "every club in the world can target". Surely that's what the World Cup qualifiers are there for! ?
Manwell Pablo Posted 1 November 2018 Posted 1 November 2018 2 hours ago, Flamey said: Surely that's what the World Cup qualifiers are there for! ? That quote is in relation to the world club cup, which if you are European, you’d have to win the champions league in order to qualify for it, currently anyway.
RonnieTodger Posted 1 November 2018 Posted 1 November 2018 They're really going out of their way to make this the worst World Cup of all time. Fantastic effort.
Finnegan Posted 1 November 2018 Posted 1 November 2018 Nobody wants a 48 team world cup except the money men. Nobody wants a world cup in Qatar except the money men. Why the **** are we tolerating this?
Flamey Posted 1 November 2018 Posted 1 November 2018 3 hours ago, Manwell Pablo said: That quote is in relation to the world club cup, which if you are European, you’d have to win the champions league in order to qualify for it, currently anyway. Absolutely, my bad! That's what you get for posting first thing in a morning! My point was that every country is involved in the World Cup, i don't see the need for diluting the World Cup 'finals' any more. But, i guess being English we always have a fair chance of qualifying.
Alf Bentley Posted 1 November 2018 Posted 1 November 2018 I wonder which other countries in the region would share the hosting duties with Qatar under this plan? Saudi Arabia? Yemen? Syria? Iraq? Israel? Palestine? Iran? So many great options.....
Finnegan Posted 1 November 2018 Posted 1 November 2018 1 minute ago, Alf Bentley said: I wonder which other countries in the region would share the hosting duties with Qatar under this plan? Saudi Arabia? Yemen? Syria? Iraq? Israel? Palestine? Iran? So many great options..... It wasn't long ago half of them were shutting their borders to Qatar. Wasn't it because Daesh funding was coming from Qatar?
Alf Bentley Posted 1 November 2018 Posted 1 November 2018 5 minutes ago, Finnegan said: It wasn't long ago half of them were shutting their borders to Qatar. Wasn't it because Daesh funding was coming from Qatar? Had to refresh my failing memory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017–18_Qatar_diplomatic_crisis "The 2017–18 Qatar diplomatic crisis began in June 2017, when Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt, the Maldives, Mauritania, Senegal, Djibouti, the Comoros, Jordan, the Tobruk-based Libyan government, and the Hadi-led Yemeni government severed diplomatic relations with Qatar and banned Qatar airplanes and ships from entering their airspace and sea routes along with Saudi Arabia blocking the only land crossing. The Saudi-led coalition cited Qatar's alleged support for terrorism as the main reason for their actions, insisting that Qatar has violated a 2014 agreement with the members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Saudi Arabia and other countries have criticized Al Jazeera and Qatar's relations with Iran. Qatar claims that it has assisted the United States in the War on Terror and the ongoing military intervention against ISIL. Initial supply disruptions were mitigated by additional imports from Iran and Turkey, and Qatar did not agree to any of the Saudi-led coalition's demands. The demands included reducing diplomatic relations with Iran, stopping military coordination with Turkey, and closing Al-Jazeera. On 27 July 2017, Qatari foreign minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani told reporters that Egypt, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain were showing "stubbornness" to Qatar and had not taken any steps to solve the crisis. Al Thani added that the Security Council, the General Assembly and "all the United Nations mechanisms" could play a role in resolving the situation. On 24 August 2017, Qatar announced that they would restore full diplomatic relations with Iran". Sounds like a joint hosting job with Iran, then... Money talks, though, so I imagine they'll be looking at Saudi.....let's ignore the fact that most of the 9/11 attackers were Saudis, that their citizens are also accused of funding ISIL and that they seem to have just slaughtered a journalist in their consulate in Turkey.... Maybe I'm getting too cynical?
Guest MattP Posted 1 November 2018 Posted 1 November 2018 27 minutes ago, Alf Bentley said: Money talks, though, so I imagine they'll be looking at Saudi.....let's ignore the fact that most of the 9/11 attackers were Saudis, that their citizens are also accused of funding ISIL and that they seem to have just slaughtered a journalist in their consulate in Turkey.... Maybe I'm getting too cynical? Not to mention the funding of some of the most extreme salafist Mosques in Europe that has probably led to the deaths of many and probably caused irreparable damage to communities. I read a great piece the other week I was going to post on here but forgot, most intellectual thought in international affairs now seems to think that if we get one, the next great global war could be in the middle east and the starting point would probably be the conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Syria has distracted us all but Yemen could turn out to be of far greater importance where they have effectively already started. Good look choosing a side in that one, militant Sunni Salafism against anti-semetic Shia. A terrifying thought.
bovril Posted 2 November 2018 Posted 2 November 2018 This would be such fun. Shambolic, but fun. https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-soccer-fifa-balkans/four-balkan-countries-to-explore-2030-world-cup-bid-idUKKCN1N71FS?fbclid=IwAR3a80REJwPikgmPZkRCtKGGnc9_2xzTa0iz92k14ovXAGfnFQde7Jdd0BU
Jattdogg Posted 3 November 2018 Posted 3 November 2018 On 31/10/2018 at 12:36, Izzy Muzzett said: Might as well go the whole hog and make it 64 teams This year’s WC was brilliant. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! Racist! Lol.
Kitchandro Posted 4 November 2018 Posted 4 November 2018 Ooh wow now i’m Even less likely to watch it.
breadandcheese Posted 4 November 2018 Posted 4 November 2018 I'll watch it if expanded. I love the world cup and the euros. Two or three matches a day. Usually loads of great games and highlights.
grobyfox1990 Posted 5 November 2018 Posted 5 November 2018 Going to be as bad as the Euros in 2016. So many pointless matches and low quality football. To think, Boxing Day premier league football is going to be cancelled for Honduras v Kazakhstan in Qatar
Nalis Posted 5 November 2018 Posted 5 November 2018 Since its a farce anyway here's an alternative. Straight knockout. 211 FIFA recognised national teams Bottom 168 ranked teams play from round 1. Top 43 ranked teams get a bye to round 2 with the winners of round 1 and a lucky loser from round 1. Most games anyone will play from round 1 is 8. No games are played at the same time so therefore games in round 1, 2 and 3 played around the clock. I'm talking Andorra v Sierra Leone at 2am followed by Tahiti v Laos at 4.30am. FIFA go home loaded and happy.
Alf Bentley Posted 5 November 2018 Posted 5 November 2018 2 minutes ago, Nalis said: Since its a farce anyway here's an alternative. Straight knockout. No games are played at the same time so therefore games in round 1, 2 and 3 played around the clock. I'm talking Andorra v Sierra Leone at 2am followed by Tahiti v Laos at 4.30am. All-nighter, here I come!
Jattdogg Posted 6 November 2018 Posted 6 November 2018 11 hours ago, grobyfox1990 said: Going to be as bad as the Euros in 2016. So many pointless matches and low quality football. To think, Boxing Day premier league football is going to be cancelled for Honduras v Kazakhstan in Qatar Would be a very entertaining diving spectacle. How can you pass it up?
Bert Posted 6 November 2018 Posted 6 November 2018 On 04/11/2018 at 12:07, Kitchandro said: Ooh wow now i’m Even less likely to watch it. Might as well cancel it now then.
stripeyfox Posted 19 March 2019 Author Posted 19 March 2019 https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/47530042 Missed this over the weekend but FIFA looks set on it's plan to expand Qatar 2022 to 48 teams, but will look for other gulf nations to co host (Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, UAE for example) I presume this would be their preferred 16 x 3 team group format
Wymsey Posted 19 March 2019 Posted 19 March 2019 A comment from a user via the BBC Football website regarding Alex McLeish's Scotland hopes.. Certainly agree with it, and it's a shame for humanity and football that it won't be moved to a decent country. 'All fans love football stats. Here is one, “If a minute’s silence was held for every death of a migrant worker in the building stadiums for the Qatar World Cup, the first 44 matches of the tournament would be played in total silence” There can be no pride or thrill in participating in the 2020 World Cup in Qatar - be it footballer, coach or fan.'
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