LincolnPirate--all of these things are "fixed" in the since that everyone involved is trying to fix it. Face it, the Qataris played the game and won. They, and the Russians, are much better at these sorts of things, particularly when in comes to dealing with delegates from third-world countries, than the Americans or English--as the votes bear out. I would say the savviest move was getting FIFA to announce two world cup hosts at once. It allowed vote trading and for a country like Qatar to trade on potential rather than existing infrastructure. Anyone can build the necessary stuff in 12 years--at least theoretically. Good for them. I suspect few of us will still be here in 12 years, so it will be interesting to see how much the place has changed.
LincolnPirate--all of these things are "fixed" in the since that everyone involved is trying to fix it. Face it, the Qataris played the game and won. They, and the Russians, are much better at these sorts of things, particularly when in comes to dealing with delegates from third-world countries, than the Americans or English--as the votes bear out. I would say the savviest move was getting FIFA to announce two world cup hosts at once. It allowed vote trading and for a country like Qatar to trade on potential rather than existing infrastructure. Anyone can build the necessary stuff in 12 years--at least theoretically. Good for them. I suspect few of us will still be here in 12 years, so it will be interesting to see how much the place has changed.