In the “it is never too early to plan ahead” mindset, there are already bidders for soccer’s 2030 and 2038 World Cups. Ghana is beginning to plan ahead for an event the country hopes to land. Twenty-one years is a long time to plan ahead.
Meanwhile, a group of South American countries want the 2030 event. Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay will combine for a bid to win the right to host the 2030 World Cup. The next World Cup that is to be awarded is between the United States-Canada-Mexico combined bid and Morocco. There has been some movement in the North American bid has the three countries have narrowed the list of possible venues to 32 with 25 American cities, four Canadian towns and three Mexican cities on that list. There are many existing stadiums that can be used which is what FIFA, the governing body of soccer’s World Cup, wants. FIFA has acknowledged that hosting the World Cup has become very expensive and that many of the venues for the 2002 South Korea-Japan matches were razed after the event and many of the 2014 Brazilian venues are white elephants.
The 2018 World Cup will be held in Russia and there is some question whether or not all the stadiums will be ready for next summer’s championships. The 2022 World Cup will be held in Qatar. The Qatar tourney drew the attention of the United States government, which went after FIFA with 14 people arrested and charged with bribery, money laundering and fraud in the bidding for the 2018 Russia and 2022 Qatar World Cups. Last year, the Qatar World Cup was denounced by Amnesty International which condemned working conditions for those who were building the facilities and infrastructure.
Human Rights Watch early this month also condemned the working conditions for those building Qatar World Cup stadiums. Too many workers deaths and unsafe conditions but the Games must go on.
By Evan Weiner For The Politics Of Sports Business
This article was republished with permission from the original publisher, Evan Weiner.