Football (Soccer) Thread

[Josquius]

I think that's a pretty cool plan. Morocco-Portugal-Spain is a very small geographic region.

See bullet point 2...



And world Cup in oceania in 2034
So basically New Zealand - Australia (Asia) as the only option there? Were they consulted on this?
Honestly it's uncertain the oceania confed will survive the decade.
Ideally we should see Asia seperated into a pacific and a mid east focussed fed and oceania killed off. It makes no real sense to do it based on continents.

[Grey Fox]

I think that's a pretty cool plan. Morocco-Portugal-Spain is a very small geographic region.

See bullet point 2...

Yes, that's awesome! 100 years old party in the original location? I'm sold.

You guys are so boring and unimaginative. World Cup in France or England every cycle. :

[Josquius]

I think that's a pretty cool plan. Morocco-Portugal-Spain is a very small geographic region.

See bullet point 2...

Yes, that's awesome! 100 years old party in the original location? I'm sold.

You guys are so boring and unimaginative. World Cup in France or England every cycle. :

Argentina - Uruguay - Paraguay would be fine.
Portugal - Spain - Morocco would be fine.
This weird hybrid is just dumb.

[Sheilbh]

Yes, that's awesome! 100 years old party in the original location? I'm sold.

You guys are so boring and unimaginative. World Cup in France or England every cycle. :

No not at all - my main preference is a single country (or at least ones that are geographically relatively close) so fans can easily travel, but also to build atmosphere, reduce carbon emissions from teams and fans flying huge distances and to avoid there being too many automatic qualifying countries.

Otherwise the only location I've really objected to is Qatar, for the same reasons I'll have an issue with Saudi hosting it. Plus it shouldn't be in a city state the size of Rome.

I agree with a lot of FIFA's rhetoric about it being the world's game and wanting to encourage football outside of just Europe and South America, and wanting lots of countries to have the chance to host it. I just don't think FIFA do that.

Incidentally - well done to the Paraguayan federation getting included in that

[Syt]

FIFA's rhetoric about it being the world's game and wanting to encourage football outside of just Europe and South America, and wanting lots of countries to have the chance to host it.

It runs a bit counter to the gigantism the event demands these days (like the Olympics tbh), so no wonder that those "non-traditional" host countries tend to have rather dubious regimes in power who can force this whole thing through if necessary. Still waiting for an Azerbaijani oil-financed World Cup. They already hosted a bunch of events (not as many as Qatar), though I guess they're a tad "preoccupied" at the moment.

[Josquius]

I'm all for more international sporting events to be hosted in the UK, France, etc...
These are the countries which already have the infrastructure to handle them and won't build a tonne of white elephants just for the tournament.
The days when the tournament just used what nations have naturally need to come back.
The move towards mutli nation hosts fulfills this somewhat.

[Barrister]

I don't see the problem with more wide-flung host nations.

I mean heck go further - follow the World Baseball Classic's example from earlier this year - they had games played in Taiwan, Japan and the US!

[Sheilbh]

I don't see the problem with more wide-flung host nations.

I mean heck go further - follow the World Baseball Classic's example from earlier this year - they had games played in Taiwan, Japan and the US!

Well it's hugely expensive for fans to follow their team through the tournament and they're already expensive enough. I also think it's more of an issue the more we're aware of climate and the carbon impact of sport. The Euros with group games for one group taking place in, I think, Baku and Rome for example.

But also I think one of the nice things of a tournament is a sense of building expectation and excitement in the host country which comes across. Sadly I think the best recent tournament for that was Russia but it was really good. I think that's slightly lost if it's spread out over multiple hosts and you know you're only getting to host a couple of quarters for example.

I think there can be justifications for it - it's clearly a preference for FIFA and UEFA now. So Africa should be hosting next I think, but I don't think there's an African country with the number of stadiums needed apart from South Africa so it makes sense that there'd be group bids (Spain, Portugal, Morocco and Greece, Egypt and Saudi). Similarly the chance for Portugal to host a World Cup is limited, so again it makes sense for them to club into a joint bid. And I get the point about Uruguay - I think it would have actually been nice if they'd just suspended the normal rotation and offered it to Uruguay (probably with Argentina) if they wanted it, but that's very romantic.

[Josquius]

Also an issue with the tournament being over a bigger area is it increases the factors outside football that determine who wins.
If you're unlucky with your draws and have to fly across continents to play 3 games in a week then your performance will suffer.

I do think the Olympics is a bit ahead of the world Cup in the sustainability stakes - London is the best example we've seen  of not building useless stuff and Paris looks set to do even better, seems to have been a key part of their bid.
The wc meanwhile saw England basically ready to go beaten by fascist Russia and fucking Qatar...
Really hope we finally hit peak football before the next wc gets given to the Saudis. It's inevitable if things stay as they are.

Of course then you had the winter Olympics which were a horror.... I do wonder how long they will continue to exist without some major climate alteration projects. Roll on the sun shield.

[Grey Fox]

The problem with the Winter Olympics is the Ski federation but I feel that's a problem that will be fixed by itself soon enough.

[Duque de Bragança]

I think that's a pretty cool plan. Morocco-Portugal-Spain is a very small geographic region.

Well, it's missing a few critical rail links, even between Spain and Portugal, with lines closed during Covid. Now would be the time to build and renew lines as per the international gauge, since that would be a perennial benefit.

PS: even with France, rail connections are dire with no trains through the Basque country (Hendaye/Irún).

[Maladict]

I think that's a pretty cool plan. Morocco-Portugal-Spain is a very small geographic region.

Well, it's missing a few critical rail links, even between Spain and Portugal, with lines closd during Covid. Now would be the time to build and renew lines as per the international gauge, since that would be a perennial benefit.

PS: even with France, rail connections are dire with no trains through the Basque country (Hendaye/Irún).

Reopen Canfranc!

[Gups]

I think that's a pretty cool plan. Morocco-Portugal-Spain is a very small geographic region.

See bullet point 2...

Yes, that's awesome! 100 years old party in the original location? I'm sold.

You guys are so boring and unimaginative. World Cup in France or England every cycle. :

Argentina - Uruguay - Paraguay would be fine.
Portugal - Spain - Morocco would be fine.
This weird hybrid is just dumb.

It's just three games in South America

[Duque de Bragança]

I think that's a pretty cool plan. Morocco-Portugal-Spain is a very small geographic region.

Well, it's missing a few critical rail links, even between Spain and Portugal, with lines closd during Covid. Now would be the time to build and renew lines as per the international gauge, since that would be a perennial benefit.

PS: even with France, rail connections are dire with no trains through the Basque country (Hendaye/Irún).

Reopen Canfranc!

 

Well, the station itself is open, for tourism, not for trains. 

As for reopening the train line, it would be even more expensive than reopening and renewing the Hendaye-Irún path for high-speed trains. The Basque Y high-speed network will probably be ready by 2030.
Not likely profitable but removes a big trump card from the Basque and Catalonian regional governments.

[Tamas]

One thing I don't like about this VAR scandal is people like the Tottenham coach talking about technology failing and to scrap VAR, when it is abundantly clear from the transcript that it was a human error. The VAR referee could not be arsed to follow what was going on tbe pitch, so he said the ruling shoild stand because he thought the ruling was goal, not offside. The process of communication may need improving but it'd ridiculous that instead of clear human incompetence we are talking about how the technology sucks.

I recon though the referees would not mind VAR bring scrapped.