Text/Yangcheng Evening News All Media Reporter Zhao Liangchen, Liu Yi, Xu Yangyang
Audio clip/Yangcheng Evening News all-media reporter Zhao Liangchen
The rigorous and gossipy "Top 2+1 in Football" has arrived as promised! Yangcheng Evening News reporters Zhao Liangchen (hereinafter referred to as "Zhao"), Liu Yi (hereinafter referred to as "Liu"), Xu Yangyang (hereinafter referred to as "Xu") in this issue is concerned that the 2030 FIFA World Cup bid has been postponed, and the Saudi Arabia-Greece-Egypt combination has withdrawn from the bid.
Why was the application process postponed?
Zhao: FIFA recently confirmed at an executive committee meeting in Zurich, Switzerland, that the start of the 2030 World Cup bid process will be delayed. The bid process for the World Cup was originally expected to be announced at the FIFA Council meeting in September or October this year, followed by the official start of the bidding process, and the final results will be officially announced at the FIFA Congress in the fourth quarter of 2024. What are the reasons for FIFA's sudden announcement of the postponement before the original bidding process began?
Liu: As we all know, the first World Cup was held in 1930, and the 2030 World Cup is a century-old World Cup with special significance. FIFA ostensibly explained that because the World Cup in seven years is a special milestone for the centennial World Cup, the bidding process will be delayed. But FIFA's internal affairs have been complicated over the years, what is the deeper reason? The Saudi Arabia-Greece-Egypt combination once bid for the 2030 World Cup, and Saudi Arabia, which has deep financial resources, is undoubtedly the main body, but because Qatar has just hosted the World Cup in 2022, the World Cup has returned to Asia and the Gulf countries so quickly? This is inherently difficult to achieve.
Xu: In principle, the hosting of the World Cup is rotated between continents, and generally should not be repeated within two terms except Europe. The 2022 World Cup is hosted by the Asian country Qatar, the 2026 World Cup is co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico in Central and North America, and the 2030 World Cup can in principle be bid by countries in Africa, South America, Europe or Oceania. European football has the highest level and a high level of economic development, and there have been cases of returning to Europe every two World Cups, such as the 1958 World Cup in Sweden, the 1966 World Cup in England, the 1974 World Cup in West Germany, the 1982 World Cup in Spain, the 1990 World Cup in Italy, the 1998 World Cup in France, and the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
At the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Argentina won the championship
The World Cup bid is highly competitive
Zhao: European countries have hosted the World Cup very frequently, not only returning to Europe every two World Cups, but also successive World Cup hosting by European countries, such as the 1934 World Cup in Italy and the 1938 World Cup in France, as well as the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland and the 1958 World Cup in Sweden. However, the five World Cups since the 2010 World Cup in South Africa have only hosted the 2018 World Cup in Russia once by Europe. The 2014 World Cup in Brazil, the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, and the 2026 World Cup co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico are not in Europe.
Xu: The 2030 World Cup is the iconic 100-year World Cup, and the bid is fiercely competitive. England proposed to bid for the 2030 World Cup as early as 2018, when British Prime Minister Theresa May proposed that the four football associations of the British Isles, England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Irish Football Association jointly bid for the World Cup. Later, the Asian, African-European combination of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Greece jointly bid for the World Cup. Also jointly bidding for the World Cup are Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay and Chile, four South American countries. It was only because England and Ireland later jointly submitted their applications to bid for Euro 2028 that the four football associations and the Irish Football Association withdrew from the 2030 World Cup bid on the advice of UEFA President Ceferin.
Liu: The reason why the four South American countries jointly bid for the World Cup is very good, that is, the centennial World Cup goes home, because the first World Cup was held in Uruguay in 1930, and Chile and Argentina hosted the 1962 and 1978 World Cups respectively. The strong rivals of the four South American countries come from the joint European and African bid combination Spain-Portugal-Morocco, which hosted the 1982 World Cup and Portugal hosted the 2004 European Cup. Morocco is often used as the host of the World Club Cup, the hardware facilities and tournament experience are good, Morocco also reached the final four as a dark horse in the 2022 World Cup.
Hercules Cup
Saudi Arabia abandons this session to specialize in the next one
Zhao: The Saudi-Egyptian-Greek combination also bid for the 2030 World Cup, although it is a joint bid, but who plays the leading role is very clear, there is no doubt that Saudi Arabia, which has strong financial resources, Egypt and Greece are not very ideal. Saudi Arabia has also promised that all stadium renovations and new stadiums will be paid for. Not only Saudi Arabia's own stadiums, but also Egypt and Greece all the costs of renovating and building venues for the World Cup are borne by Saudi Arabia, which is really "local tyrant".
Liu: The 2022 World Cup in Qatar is very impressive, it is the first World Cup to be held in the northern hemisphere winter, because the summer in Qatar is so hot. As a neighboring country, Saudi Arabia's climate is similar to Qatar, and the World Cup has returned to the Gulf countries in Asia in just eight years, which is actually very unrealistic. For the World Cup in the winter, European clubs have a lot of opinions, and the European club season is fragmented and the consumption of players is also very large. In order to weaken the impact effect of the 2022 Qatar World Cup, Saudi Arabia should be wise to abandon its bid for the 2030 World Cup and bid for the 2034 World Cup instead.
Xu: It's too hard to hold the World Cup in the summer in the Gulf countries, and the weather is really too hot. Since the World Cup is a business in international football, first of all, this core product must be good, and the viewing of the game must meet the requirements. Brazil in South America has hosted two World Cups, and Uruguay, Chile and Argentina have each hosted one World Cup, and I am very impressed. June happens to be the winter in South America in the southern hemisphere, the climate is neither hot nor cold, and it is very ideal to host the World Cup at that time, so I personally prefer South America to host the 2030 Centennial World Cup.
There are changes to the way voting is conducted
Zhao: Saudi Arabia is making full preparations for its bid for the World Cup. In 2021, the Saudi Public Investment Fund acquired Newcastle United, and Newcastle got a ticket to next season's Champions League, just as the Qatari consortium bought Paris Saint-Germain to expand its influence. Saudi Arabia is not only a traditional Asian powerhouse, but last year also defeated the eventual champions Argentina 2-1 in the first round of the World Cup group stage in Qatar. Saudi Arabia has invested heavily in the league, bringing in star players such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Benzema, N'Golo Golo N'Golomba and Mendy, and the Saudi League is becoming the sixth league behind Europe's top five leagues. Ball king Messi became the ambassador of the Saudi Tourism Authority with an endorsement fee of 100 million euros, in fact, it is also to create momentum for Saudi Arabia's bid to host the World Cup.
Liu: It is wise for Saudi Arabia to withdraw from the 2030 World Cup bid and specialize in the 2034 World Cup bid, because it is difficult for them to compete with the four South American countries for the right to host the World Cup at the time of the "World Cup home" of the Centennial World Cup. Although Uruguay, Argentina, Chile and Paraguay are not doing very well, joint bids can share the pressure on each other. If the joint bidding team of Spain, Portugal and Morocco is better than the hardware, it can be regarded as logical that the World Cup will return to Europe after three sessions, which will make Saudi Arabia's competitiveness even lower.
Xu: FIFA's philosophy over the years has been to involve more countries in the World Cup, including hosting the World Cup and expanding the World Cup. However, both the 2018 World Cup and the 2022 World Cup bid had "election bribery scandals", which was one of the main reasons why former FIFA President Blatter and former UEFA President Platini were "grounded". Previous World Cup bids, in which 22 FIFA executive committee members voted, were relatively easy to manipulate. The 2030 World Cup bid was changed to FIFA's 211 member football associations to send representatives to vote, which may be relatively fair, and the change in voting methods may also be one of the reasons for the delay in the start of the 2030 World Cup bidding process.
Image | Visual China
Responsible Editor | Ryuki
Editor: Long Xi