Russia, Qatar Beat Out England, United States To Host World Cups

The corruption charges just keep on coming in FIFA. President Sepp Blatter has been the center of a world of controversy surrounding the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, and he has vowed to clean up FIFA in his run for yet another term as the organization’s President. If new reports from the Sunday Times in England and the Associated Press have any truth to them, Blatter has a great deal to work to do, as six FIFA Executive Committee members are now accused of wrongdoing during the World Cup bidding process.

According to evidence submitted to the British Parliament by the Sunday Times, Issa Hayatou of Cameroon and Jacques Anouma of the Ivory Coast were allegedly paid $1.5 million in bribes to vote for Qatar to win the bid for the 2022 World Cup. Additionally, members of the England 2018 bid have described Nicolas Leoz, Ricardo Teixeira, Worawi Makudi, and last but not least, Jack Warner as “improper and unethical.”

For the first time since England failed in its bid to host the 2018 World Cup, Sepp Blatter met with the England Football Association to discuss a variety of things as part of the beginning of his campaign to be reelected FIFA president. Blatter is being opposed by Mohamed bin Hammam in the upcoming election for the top post in FIFA and in his meeting with the FA, sought to clear the air about some of England’s concerns.

First and foremost, Blatter stated that the awarding of the World Cups to Russia and Qatar was not a personal mission to spread the game to new parts of the world. He made that especially clear to FA chairman David Bernstein, although that does run contradictory to a statement Blatter wrote and published on the FIFA website in December, shortly after the hosting rights were awarded.

Vote trading occurred when FIFA’s executive committee awarded the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. That’s both a statement of what’s been common knowledge and a report this evening out of England, where a Sepp Blatter interview with the BBC led to the FIFA president’s confirmation that deals were make between groups bidding for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments.

Paul Kelso, reporting for The Telegraph, tries to provide reason to question Blatter’s assertion, though the logic is less salient than descriptive. Noting that the Spain-Portugal bid received seven votes in the 2018 process, Kelso extrapolates what similar influence may have done for the 2022 decision:

Just let this one go, Sepp. You want this story to die. And I say this as somebody that’s on your side. In no way to do I think all the paranoid indignation is justified, but you’re not winning any battles by calling England “bad losers” for their reaction to last week’s news.

But just because Blatter might be right doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to bring this up. Right now, England and its media are the kid who had a bad Christmas. In a few months they’ll forget they got Battleship instead of a bike (kids do still want bicycles, right?). But if you keep reminding them they didn’t get their bike? Calling them babies for complaining about it? That’s just emotional bullying. Sepp, you need to let this go.

For the first time ever, it took four rounds of voting to decide a World Cup host. When the process had played itself out, Qatar became the most unlikely World Cup host in the history of the event. Surprisingly, they were ahead from the first ballot.

But stop and consider those totals for a moment. The United States and Australia - hailed by most as the two most ready nations - combined to get as much support as South Korea, a bid that was supposed to be an also-ran. Once we read that, everything we knew about the bidding process and the strength of the proposals goes out the window. Clearly, the information the press has been feeding us over the last two years is way off base. The U.S. isn’t a favorite. The U.S. barely makes the second ballot.

Former President Bill Clinton had played a major role in U.S. Soccer’s bid, being involved in yesterday’s presentation to FIFA’s executive committee. President Obama’s contributions came in video form, telling the committee, “Here in America passion for football burns stronger than ever. If we are successful we will make the world proud. The game is in us. I hope to have the chance to welcome all of you in 2022.”

We’ll hear more people claim the Qatar decision is wrong, but would help if each person articulated their standard. How their definition compares to FIFA’s may highlight the disconnect.

Late Thursday afternoon in Zurich, Switzerland, Sepp Blatter, the President of FIFA, stepped to the podium and announced that Qatar had won the right to host the 2022 World Cup. This meant that the bids from Australia, Japan, Korea, and more importantly, the United States, had failed.

While the odds for the U.S. to win the 2022 event were dropping Thursday, America, with its soccer-hungry fans (really: only host country South Africa bought more tickets to this past summer’s World Cup) and a network of soccer-ready stadiums in place (not to mention an ample amount of hotels) was still the favorite. Twenty-eight years between hosting duties is plenty of time, and more than ever, the United States was ready to be the center stage of the soccer world.

The announcement from FIFA as to which countries will be hosting the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, originally scheduled for around 10 A.M. ET, has been delayed. Which just gives you more time to figure out where to watch it.

The announcement is being broadcast live all around the world, and chances are you get at least one of the channels:

BBC news correspondent James Pearce has just learned that today’s announcement of World Cup 2018 and World Cup 2022 hosts is likely to be delayed. Originally scheduled for 10:00 a.m. Eastern, Pearce relays word from a FIFA official that voting is taking longer than anticipated:

In a clumsy metaphor, I previously alluded to the FIFA balloting as akin to picking a Pope, and while I bemoaned the lack of smoke signals, FIFA’s voting goes until it’s done. There’s no time limit, though there is a limit on rounds. With each iteration of the voting, the least supported bid is eliminated from the process. Voting stops when a majority is achieved, meaning the 2018 voting could have anywhere from one to three rounds. With an extra entrant, 2022 voting could go four rounds.

We just got you up-to-date on the latest World Cup 2022 odds. Now about an hour away from the first announcements, let’s take a look at the World Cup 2018 odds, though they come with a caveat: Gamblers are crazy.

This weekend, Russia as a better-than-even money favorite at William Hill, a Britian-based bookmaker. Now, England has stormed ahead on the backs of ... well, I would assume David Beckham’s charm and Vladimir Putin not showing up in Zurich. It’s hard to believe an endeavor the size of the 2018 World Cup would be decided on such things, but apparently there was a large block of money hovering, waiting for those slivers of news.

The Spain-Portugal bid has nine votes, if you’re to believe Spanish representatives. More readily, the Spain-Portugal bid has nine votes, if you’re to believe a Spain-based Englishman’s reporting, though in fairness, Sid Lowe is the standard. If he says Spain feels they’ve got nine, then they feel they’ve got nine:

Those nine votes are believed to be Argentina, Brazil, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt, Qatar, Paraguay, and Turkey’s, in addition to their own. Twelve votes are needed to secure the bid.

If you want odds on soccer, go to William Hill, says the guy who doesn’t gamble. But they are reputable enough, and according to their figures, the United States is losing the confidence of the betters. Whereas the Britain-based betting house had the U.S. as 4/5 favorites to win the World Cup 2022 bid this weekend, the United States are now listed at 5/2, even as second-favorites with Australia.

Qatar has emerged as a better than even money favorite. Being 4/6 to win doesn’t mean much as far as the actual voting, being conducted as I type, is concerned. At worst, it’s an indication of a decreased (if relative) confidence in the States’ chances. At worse, it’s a hint that something’s up: Knowing people who make money off these types of things putting their money where their knowledge lies.

Russia has just finished their presentation, being the final of the 2018 aspirants to make their case to the FIFA Executive Committee. While it included a jibe at the dry (read: boring) Spain/Portugal presentation, the Russians missed too many opportunities to highlight their ability to keep state department secrets. I guess they’re not as mad about the whole WikiLeaks thing as they’re letting on.

The committee now retires to start the voting. We wait to judge the smoke. If it’s white, the voting continues. It’s red, white and blue, that means the U.S., if it’s the 2022 voting. Else, it’s Russia. Who’d have ever thought we’d have that in common? The decisions are expected to be announced at 10:00 a.m. Eastern time.

The United States opened their presentation with a video, followed by a speech from Freeman, who is a member of the U.S. bid committee, who emphasized the country’s diversity. Freeman spoke of his love of the United States and stated that the United States, “is the most diverse nation on earth...lots of Americans, one America.” He also appropriately quoted Nelson Mandela, considering that Freeman played Mandela in the movie “Invictus,” in saying that, “sport has the power to change the world.”

The contingent of Americans in Zurich for the presentation and vote also included Mia Hamm, who received acknowledgment from FIFA President Sepp Blatter before the United States’ presentation. It was an additional point in the bid’s push for diversity that the bid hopes will override the concerns of some who believe that 2022 is too soon for the U.S. to host a World Cup after doing so in 1994.

On Wednesday, the United States sent Morgan Freeman, Landon Donovan and Bill Clinton to Zurich, Switzerland as part of its 2022 World Cup bid presentation. On Thursday, they’ll find out if it was enough.

The U.S. is aiming to host the World Cup in 2022, welcoming the world’s largest sporting event to America for the second time (after originally hosting in 1994). But they’re up against real competition from the rest of the world as Australia, Japan, Qatar and South Korea all have bids in as well. Though it seems likely the final decision will come down to the U.S. and Qatar.