Qatar World Cup 2022

Well world Cups are usually held in big countries with large populations.

Prior to Qatar that was seen as a requirement for a bid, to have disperesed venues so that as many regions as possible in countries can be involved.

And the group stages are usually setup so that teams for the most part will compete in close enough general area, so fans don't have to travel that far in the early rounds.

In 2026 no team will be playing their first game in Toronto and their next in Mexico City.

And the reason for three countries is the tournament will balloon from 32 teams to 48 so you need more venues and also to spread the cost.

Yep.

I'm sure the bandwagon with hitch on but actual soccer fans will know that if your team qualifies in the 30-48 slots you are still sht.

As time goes on Ireland in 88 becomes so much more impressive. I think only a World Cup semi for us could ever top how much of an achievement that was.

Only 8 teams actually qualified for the tournament proper so it was a real elite. Just qualifying was like a QF now and we came very close to getting out of the group too.

The latest kick off time is 7 pm.

https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2020/0715/1153480-2022-world-cup-kick-off-times-revealed/

Not sure why anyone is surprised. FIFA set a precedent in 1934 and have brought the World Cup to a fair few shtholes since. Spain was picked while Franco was still in charge and Argentina in 1978 wasn't that lovely a place. I doubt Switzerland was that popular less than 10 years after WW2 either.

I won't watch one second of it.

The hypocrisy of all those players taking the knee, well I guess not all black and brown lives matter, not the 1000s that died building the stadiums anyway.

Why are you not watching it ?

I won't support it.

I'm not gonna watch a game being played in a stadium which was built on slave labour.

Don't think anyone should either, it's a pity the Norwegian team didn't boycott it like they said they would.

The carbon footprint from this World Cup will be huge too considering it's on in air conditioned stadia in a desert.

And of course the LGBTQIA+ issues.

Didn't Norway only say they would boycott as a joke after they were eliminated?

The Stadiums are all using all solar-powered heat exchanging tech to cool them.

Its only everything else thats wrong with this Tournament.

(Incidentally, the December temps in Qatar average 24C, with nighttime temps of 14C, why the feck didn't they just build them open topped and without aircon?? I was in Semple Stadium in summer '21 in 32C heat and nobody offered me air conditioning!!)

Ya there is one place. Its a rave in the middle of the desert run by Arcadia the "hippies" who do a lot of the the crazy art displays at Glastonbury. Tickets will be £75 for entry.

You also have the fanzone which might be the only place to watch a match on TV. TV rights are so expensive most hotels are reportedly not showing it. Even the team hotels.

.....and when they spill out of this area and into the main streets?

Perhaps we are lucky ireland didn't qualify this time round.

I have a feeling it will all be fine. Between the cost to get there, stay there and the price of booze we won't see anything like the numbers of partying fans we usually do. Still seems to be loads of tickets out there.

Probably won't let people walk in or out either. Bet ya it will be shuttle buses from hotel to fanzone.

Is there a boards sweepstake?

I'm not claiming to know how each fan feels about it.

But I find it ironic that soccer fans are suddenly concerned about gay rights in Qatar when in reality they would be hurling every gay slur under the sun at a gay player if he were to take the field, or even worse score against their team for their rivals.

That's not to mention the Man City or Newcastle fans who are quite happy to see their clubs bankrolled by regiemes that hardly have great records on these sort of things.

Anything that shines a massive spotlight on all the bs and hypocrisy is fine with me 😂

i'll be watching as much of it as i can

GAA and rugby are not exactly flooded with openly gay people playing the game either so its not a unique soccer problem.

And I doubt the fans that are holding gay players back give a sht about Qatar's record. The anti Qatar stuff is likely from a different set of fans because "soccer fan" is not some hive mind creature.

The WC is probably my favourite sporting event but I'm really considering not watching any of this one.

I may crack and give in but right now, I can't in good conscience bring myself to add to the viewing figures.

FIFA are an absolutely despicable organization and I hope this WC is a financial failure.

The group stages will be like watching the playoff qualifiers. Won't be any good til the knockouts.

I still think my favourite tournaments were the 16 team Euros. Almost every game was between 2 quality teams.