Will Russia and Qatar Lose World Cup Hosting Privileges?
Soccer is the world’s most popular sport. However, it is also the world’s most corrupt sport, bar non. The amount of bribery and illegal activity behind closed doors is unlike anything else. Recently, the head of FIFA resigned from his post due to his involvement in multimillion dollar bribery scandals. However, this came just days after he had been reinstated and voted back into the position by the governing body of FIFA. All of this points to a lack of foresight and the possibility that the World Cup might change from its upcoming Russian and Qatar locations to a different spot for the 2018 and 2022 dates.
For starters it is important to look at the bribery case in general and the fact that FIFA still voted the head back into office, despite being in the middle of a giant scandal and being extradited to the United States to face trial. There is a good chance that he never makes it out of a jail cell for the rest of his life due to all the extortion and bribery taking place. However, possibly the bigger slap in the face of the general public came in the fact that the governing body voted him back into power.
What is interesting is who voted for the president back into his position and who didn’t. The majority of Europe and North America voted for him out of office, while almost all of South American, Africa, the Middle East and Russia voted for him to stay. Asia is split for who voted, for the most part. What is interesting is that the previous World Cups were held in Brazil, and are to be held in Russia and Qatar in 2018 and 2022, respectably. It has come under the understanding of federal prosecutors that both Russia and Qatar received their bids due to heavy bribes. Furthermore, the human relations and human rights impact on the stadiums being built in Qatar have been online, as thousands of essentially slaved laborers have died building the stadium.
With all of this outcry over Russia and Qatar (one might wonder how Russia hosted the Olympic games only a few years ago now), it is beginning to look like there is a possibility that both locations may be stripped of their chance at hosting the World Cup. This would stand at a major blow to the esteem of both nations, but in order to determine whether or not the countries will lose their bids, it is important to understand who voted against the FIFA president.
In the FIFA governing panel, every nation has one vote. However, those that voted against the president, including the United States, Canada, Germany, UK, France, Spain, Italy, Portugal and others not only have what most believe to be the top soccer talent in the world but, more importantly to FIFA, these regions have the largest television markets and bring in the majority of the money. All these nations need to do is threaten to back out and hold their own event and the actual “World Cup” would collapse. Due to this, more nations are likely to side with them.
For anyone looking at World Cup betting and Online soccer betting, there is a good chance both locations lose the right to host the World Cups. World Cup betting and online soccer betting websites are even holding odds as to whether or not this happens. Chances are, it is going to.
