Blatter to ask to move 2022 World Cup

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http://news.yahoo.com/qatar-tiny-nat...100000992.html


Qatar: The tiny nation that roared


Qatar's weighty problem
The emirate isn't just the world's richest country, it's also one of the fattest. Half of adults and a third of children are obese, and almost 17 percent of the native population suffers from diabetes. By comparison, about a third of Americans are obese, and 8 percent diabetic. The problem is that Qataris are so rich that they don't need to work, and have developed a taste for fatty American fast food. "In Qatar, we just sit, smoke, and eat junk food," one resident told The Atlantic. "Everything is done for us." The government has tried to battle the bloat by encouraging Qataris to eat less and exercise more. But the country's traditional culture makes it difficult for anyone to go on a diet. "If you don't eat, it's considered a shame," one Qatari told The New York Times, "and if you leave someone's home without eating it's a shame."



average income of a qatari is $400,000.


Maybe they'll eat their way into extinction.

[persian-eagle-13]

^^some countries do not have any food to feed their citizens and dieing of starvation yet others have so much food that they die from over eating!!

kam bekhor hameshe bekhor

[EKBATAN]

interesting thing i found....they are building a brand new city for the world cup, called Lusail

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lusail

[persian-eagle-13]

^^what money can buy these days!!! money can almost buy you anything except "Respect". you earn your respect!! this qatari clowns think buy spending money they will earn the respect of the world, oh boy how wrong they are!!

[EKBATAN]

^^what money can buy these days!!! money can almost buy you anything except "Respect". you earn your respect!! this qatari clowns think buy spending money they will earn the respect of the world, oh boy how wrong they are!!

well said.

as ive said before they pretty much paid for the world cup and they will continue til they keep it. i bet u even if the big companies like Fox pull out a billion $ they'll cough it up to keep it. This world cup is ESSENTIAL for the growth of the fake arab gulf states

[Kiarash]

the fake arab gulf states

Persian Gulf states.

[Masoud_A]

Persian Gulf states.

I think he was referring to their ethnicity.

[OFFSIDE_1]

interesting thing i found....they are building a brand new city for the world cup, called Lusail

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lusail

Do they even have enough people to fill up this city?

[HuSsAiN]

shame on these arabs.. shocking

http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...rld-cup-slaves

[EKBATAN]

Persian Gulf states.

lol are u kiddin me? i put the word fake to describe what they call their dreamland

[Ghermez Agha]

disgusting act by a discusting group of people, they bribe, cheat, try to change the WC scheduhle and are even killers now. Its gotten to the point that its BEYOND ridiculous if FIFA doesn't do anything. corruption at an all-time high if they opt not to.




Qatar accused of slavery in 2022 plans

Nepalese migrant workers’ lives are being put at risk as Qatar prepares for the 2022 World Cup, The Guardian has reported, with the competition's organising committee saying it is "appalled" by the findings of the investigation.



Protestors in London hold up a banner complaining about the abuse of workers in Qatar.
GettyImagesDozens of workers are reported to have died this summer as Qatar lays the foundations for the 2022 tournament.


• Marcotti: Let’s talk about Qatar

The newspaper has obtained documents from the Nepalese embassy in Qatar’s capital city, Doha, showing at least 44 workers died in a two-month spell this summer as the Gulf state puts the infrastructure in place for the tournament. The deaths were said to be predominantly down to heart attacks, heart failure or workplace accidents.

The investigation also found evidence of forced labour on the World Cup infrastructure project, as well as allegations that pay has been withheld for several months and passports have been confiscated to prevent the workers leaving.

The problems with the summer heat -- already a major talking point amid plans to move the World Cup to the winter for the first time in its history -- are said to be posing a substantial health risk, with some workers claiming they have been refused free drinking water.

Qatar, whose immigrant workforce stands at 90 percent, is accused of exploiting a situation that sees Nepalese workers paying recruitment agents to secure work in the state and then being left powerless to escape the conditions. The Nepalese ambassador to Qatar, Maya Kumari Sharma, sparked a significant controversy earlier this summer when she said that the state had become “an open jail” for workers from her homeland.

On Thursday, FIFA responded to the accusations with this statement: "FIFA is very concerned about the reports presented by the media regarding labour rights' abuses and the conditions for construction workers in projects at Lusail City, Qatar.

"FIFA will again get in contact with the Qatari authorities and the matter will also be discussed at the executive committee meeting."

Aidan McQuade, director of Anti-Slavery International, said: "The evidence uncovered by The Guardian is clear proof of the use of systematic forced labour in Qatar. In fact, these working conditions and the astonishing number of deaths of vulnerable workers go beyond forced labour to the slavery of old where human beings were treated as objects. There is no longer a risk that the World Cup might be built on forced labour. It is already happening."

Work directly relating to the World Cup has yet to begin but new cities are being created that will house stadiums to be used in the tournament, and the Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee has said the current treatment of workers is inexcusable.

A statement read: "Like everyone viewing the video and images, and reading the accompanying texts, we are appalled by the findings presented in The Guardian's report. There is no excuse for any worker in Qatar, or anywhere else, to be treated in this manner.

"The health, safety, wellbeing and dignity of every worker that contributes to staging the 2022 FIFA World Cup is of the utmost importance to our committee and we are committed to ensuring that the event serves as a catalyst toward creating sustainable improvements to the lives of all workers in Qatar.

"We firmly believe that all workers engaged on our projects, and those of the other infrastructure developers in Qatar, have a right to be treated in a manner that ensures at all times their wellbeing, safety, security, and dignity. This is our top priority as we begin to deliver on the promises made in our bid to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar."

In a recent interview with insideworldfootball.com, FIFA president Sepp Blatter had said he believed hosting the World Cup in Qatar would make a positive impact.

He said: “The Qatar World Cup promises to help unite an unstable region of the world by bringing hope and joy to millions who have suffered for decades. It will show, once again, that football is a force for good -- as we have most recently demonstrated by encouraging the Palestinians and Israelis to come to Zurich and start meaningful dialogue towards reaching an historic agreement.

“We have no political ambitions, which is why we are not suspect of having a political agenda. All we want is to bring the World Cup to regions where it has never been before, and where football can help make a difference -- even for a few weeks. I am a firm believer in the good of the game and what it can generate.”

The International Trade Union Confederation also said Thursday it is pushing FIFA to press for changes in Qatari labor laws.

ITUC secretary general Sharan Burrow said in a Sept. 20 note to Blatter that "several hundred migrant construction workers die each year in Qatar" where they often work in extreme heat.

ITUC wants FIFA to discuss the issue at its executive committee meeting next Thursday and Friday when it will also discuss other World Cup issues, including switching the tournament from summer to winter.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/15...t-says?cc=5901

[KC McElroy]

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/dami...ir=UK+Politics

Like most people I have been appalled to read the recently published stories about the terrible conditions in which the builders and workers in Qatar who are constructing the infrastructure that will support the 2022 Fifa World Cup in that country, are being subjected to. It is shocking to hear about their lack of basic human rights and how so many have died working on projects there. The organisers in Qatar say that they share our concerns, as do Fifa, but they must show the world that they are clearly making a massive effort to stop these practices, and ensure the health and dignity of the workers. I don't want to see the World Cup being played in stadia built by slave labour.

This is sadly just the latest controversy to rock the Fifa World Cup in Qatar. Some might say that the idea of holding the tournament in a desert country smaller than the Falkland Islands, where the average daytime temperature in July is in the 40 degrees Celsius always defied any kind of common sense. Yet the tournament was awarded to the country on that basis, with the promise of air conditioned stadiums and infrastructure for the fans. Now Fifa are saying that they don't believe that this is possible and that the tournament should be played in the winter; they will discuss and vote on such a move next month.

Moving the World Cup to the winter will create massive disruptions to the sporting calendar around the globe. If the tournament was played in November it would most likely mean squashing the English Premier League season into a period from January to July with difficult decisions to be made over the format of competitions like the FA Cup and even whether some traditional fixtures would have to be abandoned altogether. The disruption caused by moving the football season would also most likely run over three years, as the changes would need to be phased in and out again. It also has knock on consequences for other sports. For example this summer, if the football season ran into July it would have clashed directly with most of The Ashes cricket, which whilst not of direct concern to the players, could have a significant impact on the revenues generated for the sport from advertisers and broadcasters.

Sepp Blatter has said that these issues are only the concern of traditional Europeans who expect the world to fit in with their plans. He has even suggested that it could be impossible to play the world cup in the southern hemisphere if it always had to be held during the northern hemisphere's summer. This is of course complete rubbish. The concerns about switching the tournament to November have been most strongly raised so far by the football association in Australia. The 2010 Fifa World Cup was held in South Africa, and was a fantastic success. The last time I looked, that country was in the southern hemisphere.

I am all for the World Cup being played in new countries where football is a growing sport and hosting the tournament could give a big boost to the development of the game in that region; but does anyone seriously believe that this was the criteria against which Qatar won the right to host the tournament?

Sadly I have no confidence that Fifa will reconsider its position and decide that if Qatar cannot host the World Cup when it said it would, in June and July of 2022, then the competition to host the tournament should be re-opened. Fifa should also be all over the Qatar officials to make sure there are no further breaches in human rights for the workers building the tournament's infrastructure, but I don't believe they will be.

So against all of this, what should we do. Well, if we are not happy with the way the questions of human rights are being dealt with, nor the consequences of playing the World Cup in the winter, the FA should consider boycotting the tournament. If the major footballing nations took a similar stand, Fifa would back down. I believe there should now be a serious, open debate about such a move. Ultimately Fifa's main concern is money, and their main source of it comes from the broadcasting and sponsorship rights associated with the World Cup. The value of these rights is of course dependent on the best and most popular players being on display.

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World Cup head 'confident' Qatar will keep event
World Cup head Al-Thawadi confident FIFA will keep Qatar as host; pledges better labor rights

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/world-...171742419.html

"Scrutiny of Qatar increased this week when France Football magazine, FIFA's commercial partner in the annual Ballon d'Or player awards, made more claims about the bid's spending and tactics in 2009-10 under the headline "Qatarclysme."

[KC McElroy]

World Cup head 'confident' Qatar will keep event
World Cup head Al-Thawadi confident FIFA will keep Qatar as host; pledges better labor rights

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/world-...171742419.html

"Scrutiny of Qatar increased this week when France Football magazine, FIFA's commercial partner in the annual Ballon d'Or player awards, made more claims about the bid's spending and tactics in 2009-10 under the headline "Qatarclysme."

The fact that they have to say they are confident indicates they are not.

[Raptor]

About moving the WC from the summer to the winter:

In my opinion, right now the best hope lies in the hands of the bigger nations, like England and Germany (and to some point also Italy and Spain) because of the popularity of their leagues. I would also like to add France to this group, but since Platini, head of UEFA, is just as corrupt as the assh0les in FIFA I won't. Also, Spain and Italy are going through some rough times these days (financial issues) so a boycott could possibly only anger people living in these countries.

Anyway, these countries need to threat with a boycott in case they decide to move the WC from the summer to the winter (IMO, this idea is even worse than handing the games to Qatar, but of course the problem exist because of the games being held there). English FA and German DFB should have enough power to shake up FIFA, and with the addition of nations like Italy, Spain, Belgium, Switzerland, Netherlands, the US, etc. to the protest list things could turn out well.

On the other hand, developing countries would see a great opportunity to win the WC if some bigger nations decide to not show up. Nations from South America, Middle East, Africa and also nations like Russia and Mexico will seize the opportunity to get a trophy from the biggest stage.

FOX was apparently furious about this possible move because of the event colliding with the NFL (and also NBA and NHL) meaning losses in viewership. The power of major TV companies could also help halting the move, but a couple of days ago I read that FIFA and FOX had agreed on new terms (not definite), meaning they had lowered the initial cost that FOX had paid for the US TV rights, which of course doesn't help the case any longer.

If the calendar move doesn't happen, it will hopefully lead to FIFA being forced to move the WC from Qatar to some other place.