2022-23 Football Season: Title Races and Cups Heat Up!

[Outer Sparta]

Netherlands
Turkey
Norway
Montenegro
Latvia
Gibraltar


Netherlands should win this group. Turkey can be decent, Norway has Haaland, Montenegro can be tough. Latvia should be beaten and Gibraltar is an easy win.

I'm sure that you can be confident that qualification for the 2022 World Cup will prove just as straightforward for the Dutch as qualification for the 2018 World Cup.

Then again, who wants to play in Qatar, where even in winter it's about as livable as Venus and the entire fixtures list would be fucked up. Everybody but FIFA thinks Qatar is a bad host, but the Qatari money talks in FIFA's case.

[Twicetagram and JYPe]

I’m having fun predicting the World Cup qualifiers

[The Champions League]

I’m having fun predicting the World Cup qualifiers

Mind sharing some of those predictions?

[Twicetagram and JYPe]

I’m having fun predicting the World Cup qualifiers

Mind sharing some of those predictions?

The following are the direct qualifiers, not inter continentals.
Africa: I reckon Senegal, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia and either Algeria or Nigeria

Asia: Most likely Australia, South Korea and Japan, with Iran taking the last spot. Other contenders include China, Vietnam and Syria

North and Central America: Mexico, USA, Costa Rica

South America: Brazil, Argentina are pretty much guaranteed. Other contenders are Uruguay, Chile, Colombia and Venezuela

Europe(group winners): Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Croatia, England, Germany
Europe(second round): Serbia, Sweden, Switzerland, Scotland, Turkey, Poland, Iceland, Austria, Czechia, Romania, Norway, Wales

[The Archregimancy]

I'm sure that you can be confident that qualification for the 2022 World Cup will prove just as straightforward for the Dutch as qualification for the 2018 World Cup.

Then again, who wants to play in Qatar, where even in winter it's about as livable as Venus and the entire fixtures list would be fucked up. Everybody but FIFA thinks Qatar is a bad host, but the Qatari money talks in FIFA's case.

I worked in Qatar for a few months at the end of 2013.

Late autumn and winter temperatures aren't actually so bad. Rain and temperatures in the teens [celsius] aren't uncommon.

The main issue is that it has the single most dismal landscape of any country I've ever been to; endless vistas of flat, grey, dull, sandy plains. Doha itself isn't much better. The architecture in the city centre is superficially attractive (laughing at the condom tower will distract visitors for about 10 minutes), but there's barely anything to detain the casual tourist. The Museum of Islamic Art perhaps acts as a metaphor: architecturally impressive, some interesting exhibits, but with a vast hollow space at the centre - and most of the museum curatorial staff were let go about 5 years ago as part of a tiresome spat between the Emir and his sister. Meanwhile, the 'traditional' Souq Waqif was razed to the ground and then rebuilt from the ground up to make it better; so none of those 'old' buildings are in fact real. Al Zubarah is a UNESCO World Heritage site, but few people will take the trouble to drive 90 minutes outside of Doha through the dismal landscape to visit a bunch of ruins of an 18th-century pearl-fishing town with minimal interpretation that only an archaeologist could love (ahem).

The new national museum opened in 2019, and I haven't had the chance to visit - but if your main tourist offers are an Islamic Art museum that'll take an afternoon at best, a 'traditional' souq that's in no way authentic, the opportunity to spend the night in a desert that's just flat grey sand crust, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that has little for the casual visitor to see, and a new national museum that's little more than a propaganda factory about the glories of Qatari culture, then I imagine that most World Cup visitors will not be eager to stay in Doha any longer than they need to. Assuming that the internal GCC tiff over Qatar is resolved by 2022, then most visitors will be taking the short flight to the UAE or Bahrain for something to do - even if Qatar loosens its rules on alcohol consumption. Even Saudi Arabia will look more attractive as a destination by then if the Crown Prince continues his work on opening the country up to tourism (though, truth in advertising, note that this is something I've recently been asked to support). If given a choice between a weekend in Doha or a weekend in the more interesting Saudi destinations, I know which I'd pick. Hint: it wouldn't be Doha.

So no, I wouldn't have awarded the World Cup to Qatar.

[Outer Sparta]

Then again, who wants to play in Qatar, where even in winter it's about as livable as Venus and the entire fixtures list would be fucked up. Everybody but FIFA thinks Qatar is a bad host, but the Qatari money talks in FIFA's case.

I worked in Qatar for a few months at the end of 2013.

Late autumn and winter temperatures aren't actually so bad. Rain and temperatures in the teens [celsius] aren't uncommon.

The main issue is that it has the single most dismal landscape of any country I've ever been to; endless vistas of flat, grey, dull, sandy plains. Doha itself isn't much better. The architecture in the city centre is superficially attractive (laughing at the condom tower will distract visitors for about 10 minutes), but there's barely anything to detain the casual tourist. The Museum of Islamic Art perhaps acts as a metaphor: architecturally impressive, some interesting exhibits, but with a vast hollow space at the centre - and most of the museum curatorial staff were let go about 5 years ago as part of a tiresome spat between the Emir and his sister. Meanwhile, the 'traditional' Souq Waqif was razed to the ground and then rebuilt from the ground up to make it better; so none of those 'old' buildings are in fact real. Al Zubarah is a UNESCO World Heritage site, but few people will take the trouble to drive 90 minutes outside of Doha through the dismal landscape to visit a bunch of ruins of an 18th-century pearl-fishing town with minimal interpretation that only an archaeologist could love (ahem).

The new national museum opened in 2019, and I haven't had the chance to visit - but if your main tourist offers are an Islamic Art museum that'll take an afternoon at best, a 'traditional' souq that's in no way authentic, the opportunity to spend the night in a desert that's just flat grey sand crust, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that has little for the casual visitor to see, and a new national museum that's little more than a propaganda factory about the glories of Qatari culture, then I imagine that most World Cup visitors will not be eager to stay in Doha any longer than they need to. Assuming that the internal GCC tiff over Qatar is resolved by 2022, then most visitors will be taking the short flight to the UAE or Bahrain for something to do - even if Qatar loosens its rules on alcohol consumption. Even Saudi Arabia will look more attractive as a destination by then if the Crown Prince continues his work on opening the country up to tourism (though, truth in advertising, note that this is something I've recently been asked to support). If given a choice between a weekend in Doha or a weekend in the more interesting Saudi destinations, I know which I'd pick. Hint: it wouldn't be Doha.

So no, I wouldn't have awarded the World Cup to Qatar.

It's pretty noteworthy that Qatar hardly has football infrastructure and even a football history. Their national team is mostly comprised of naturalized foreigners than native Qataris.

[Mathuvan Union]

I worked in Qatar for a few months at the end of 2013.

Late autumn and winter temperatures aren't actually so bad. Rain and temperatures in the teens [celsius] aren't uncommon.

The main issue is that it has the single most dismal landscape of any country I've ever been to; endless vistas of flat, grey, dull, sandy plains. Doha itself isn't much better. The architecture in the city centre is superficially attractive (laughing at the condom tower will distract visitors for about 10 minutes), but there's barely anything to detain the casual tourist. The Museum of Islamic Art perhaps acts as a metaphor: architecturally impressive, some interesting exhibits, but with a vast hollow space at the centre - and most of the museum curatorial staff were let go about 5 years ago as part of a tiresome spat between the Emir and his sister. Meanwhile, the 'traditional' Souq Waqif was razed to the ground and then rebuilt from the ground up to make it better; so none of those 'old' buildings are in fact real. Al Zubarah is a UNESCO World Heritage site, but few people will take the trouble to drive 90 minutes outside of Doha through the dismal landscape to visit a bunch of ruins of an 18th-century pearl-fishing town with minimal interpretation that only an archaeologist could love (ahem).

The new national museum opened in 2019, and I haven't had the chance to visit - but if your main tourist offers are an Islamic Art museum that'll take an afternoon at best, a 'traditional' souq that's in no way authentic, the opportunity to spend the night in a desert that's just flat grey sand crust, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that has little for the casual visitor to see, and a new national museum that's little more than a propaganda factory about the glories of Qatari culture, then I imagine that most World Cup visitors will not be eager to stay in Doha any longer than they need to. Assuming that the internal GCC tiff over Qatar is resolved by 2022, then most visitors will be taking the short flight to the UAE or Bahrain for something to do - even if Qatar loosens its rules on alcohol consumption. Even Saudi Arabia will look more attractive as a destination by then if the Crown Prince continues his work on opening the country up to tourism (though, truth in advertising, note that this is something I've recently been asked to support). If given a choice between a weekend in Doha or a weekend in the more interesting Saudi destinations, I know which I'd pick. Hint: it wouldn't be Doha.

So no, I wouldn't have awarded the World Cup to Qatar.

It's pretty noteworthy that Qatar hardly has football infrastructure and even a football history. Their national team is mostly comprised of naturalized foreigners than native Qataris.

they have been successful in various AFC championships.

[The Champions League]

It's pretty noteworthy that Qatar hardly has football infrastructure and even a football history. Their national team is mostly comprised of naturalized foreigners than native Qataris.

they have been successful in various AFC championships.

Regional championships for the most part. They have only been successful outside of Western Asia recently due to naturalizing a ton of footballers and some youth development of their own in the last 5 or so years.

[Mathuvan Union]

they have been successful in various AFC championships.

Regional championships for the most part. They have only been successful outside of Western Asia recently due to naturalizing a ton of footballers and some youth development of their own in the last 5 or so years.

they've still beaten pretty good teams like Japan and Australia

[Outer Sparta]

Regional championships for the most part. They have only been successful outside of Western Asia recently due to naturalizing a ton of footballers and some youth development of their own in the last 5 or so years.

they've still beaten pretty good teams like Japan and Australia

Of course they have virtually no native talent so they resort of foreigners.

[Mathuvan Union]

they've still beaten pretty good teams like Japan and Australia

Of course they have virtually no native talent so they resort of foreigners.

just like in everything else!

[The Champions League]

Mind sharing some of those predictions?

The following are the direct qualifiers, not inter continentals.
Africa: I reckon Senegal, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia and either Algeria or Nigeria

Asia: Most likely Australia, South Korea and Japan, with Iran taking the last spot. Other contenders include China, Vietnam and Syria

North and Central America: Mexico, USA, Costa Rica

South America: Brazil, Argentina are pretty much guaranteed. Other contenders are Uruguay, Chile, Colombia and Venezuela

Europe(group winners): Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Croatia, England, Germany
Europe(second round): Serbia, Sweden, Switzerland, Scotland, Turkey, Poland, Iceland, Austria, Czechia, Romania, Norway, Wales

My are these:
UEFA - (Group winners) Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Croatia, Poland, Germany

(Playoff winners) England, Switzerland, Norway

AFC - Qatar, Japan, Uzbekistan, South Korea, Australia

CAF - Algeria, Senegal, Morocco, Cameroon, Egypt

CONCACAF - United States, Mexico, Canada, Costa Rica

CONMEBOL - Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, Uruguay, Paraguay

Intercontinental playoffs
Costa Rica v. Iraq
Paraguay v. New Zealand

they've still beaten pretty good teams like Japan and Australia

Of course they have virtually no native talent so they resort of foreigners.

Lol their only relevant native player is Akram Afif

[Mathuvan Union]

The following are the direct qualifiers, not inter continentals.
Africa: I reckon Senegal, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia and either Algeria or Nigeria

Asia: Most likely Australia, South Korea and Japan, with Iran taking the last spot. Other contenders include China, Vietnam and Syria

North and Central America: Mexico, USA, Costa Rica

South America: Brazil, Argentina are pretty much guaranteed. Other contenders are Uruguay, Chile, Colombia and Venezuela

Europe(group winners): Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Croatia, England, Germany
Europe(second round): Serbia, Sweden, Switzerland, Scotland, Turkey, Poland, Iceland, Austria, Czechia, Romania, Norway, Wales

My are these:
UEFA - (Group winners) Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Croatia, Poland, Germany

(Playoff winners) England, Switzerland, Norway

AFC - Qatar, Japan, Uzbekistan, South Korea, Australia

CAF - Algeria, Senegal, Morocco, Cameroon, Egypt

CONCACAF - United States, Mexico, Canada, Costa Rica

CONMEBOL - Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, Uruguay, Paraguay

International playoffs
Costa Rica v. Iraq
Paraguay v. New Zealand

Of course they have virtually no native talent so they resort of foreigners.

Lol their only relevant native player is Akram Afif

Mine:

UEFA: Portugal, Spain, England, Italy, France, Croatia, Poland, Netherlands, Germany, Belgium
(Playoffs)Switzerland, Norway, Denmark

AFC: Australia, Qatar, South Korea, Japan, China

CAF: Morocco, Cameroon, Egypt, Algeria, Senegal

CONCACAF: US, Mexico, Costa Rica, Canada

CONMEBOL: Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Colombia

International Playoffs: Canada v. New Zealand
China v. Bosnia & Herzegovina

[The Champions League]

My are these:
UEFA - (Group winners) Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Croatia, Poland, Germany

(Playoff winners) England, Switzerland, Norway

AFC - Qatar, Japan, Uzbekistan, South Korea, Australia

CAF - Algeria, Senegal, Morocco, Cameroon, Egypt

CONCACAF - United States, Mexico, Canada, Costa Rica

CONMEBOL - Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, Uruguay, Paraguay

International playoffs
Costa Rica v. Iraq
Paraguay v. New Zealand
Lol their only relevant native player is Akram Afif

Mine:

UEFA: Portugal, Spain, England, Italy, France, Croatia, Poland, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Belgium
(Playoffs)Switzerland, Norway, Sweden

AFC: Australia, Qatar, South Korea, Japan, China

CAF: Morocco, Cameroon, Egypt, Algeria, Senegal

CONCACAF: US, Mexico, Costa Rica, Canada

CONMEBOL: Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Colombia

International Playoffs: Canada v. New Zealand
China v. Iraq

Two mistakes here: no two teams from the same confederation can play in the intercontinental playoffs. If anything, it'll be China v. Iraq to decide the Asian represent at the playoffs. Also, you have 14 European teams here, instead of 13, so yeah.

[Mathuvan Union]

Mine:

UEFA: Portugal, Spain, England, Italy, France, Croatia, Poland, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Belgium
(Playoffs)Switzerland, Norway, Sweden

AFC: Australia, Qatar, South Korea, Japan, China

CAF: Morocco, Cameroon, Egypt, Algeria, Senegal

CONCACAF: US, Mexico, Costa Rica, Canada

CONMEBOL: Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Colombia

International Playoffs: Canada v. New Zealand
China v. Iraq

Two mistakes here: no two teams from the same confederation can play in the intercontinental playoffs. If anything, it'll be China v. Iraq to decide the Asian represent at the playoffs. Also, you have 14 European teams here, instead of 13, so yeah.

oh shit I totally forgot about Iraq being in the AFC.
I cannot count today.

fixed. sorry Pjanic.

[The Champions League]

Oh yes, it's happening! Messi v. Ronaldo starts now for the first time in almost three years and 9 years in the CL!

[Mathuvan Union]

Oh yes, it's happening! Messi v. Ronaldo starts now for the first time in almost three years and 9 years in the CL!

I was about to say 'what about October' until I realised Ronaldo had COVID.

[Outer Sparta]

https://www.espn.com/soccer/paris-saint ... ged-racism

Good on both teams to abandon the match when there was a racist referee officiating the game. Demba Ba also tore into the officials to confront their racism.

[Outer Sparta]

Thread update: will be changing the poll from CL winner to who do you think will win each major league at this point (contemplating whether or not I should include the Ligue 1 Farmers League. The results from the CL poll:

Bayern: 11
PSG: 3
Liverpool: 2
Man City: 4
Juventus: 1
Real Madrid: 1
Barcelona: 2
Chelsea: 2
Dortmund: 1
Other votes: 8

The new poll will cover the Premier League.

[Mathuvan Union]

Thread update: will be changing the poll from CL winner to who do you think will win each major league at this point (contemplating whether or not I should include the Ligue 1 Farmers League. The results from the CL poll:

Bayern: 11
PSG: 3
Liverpool: 2
Man City: 4
Juventus: 1
Real Madrid: 1
Barcelona: 2
Chelsea: 2
Dortmund: 1
Other votes: 8

The new poll will cover the Premier League.

Where’s Aston Villa? For the first time in decades they have a legitimate chance st being in the top 5.

[Outer Sparta]

Thread update: will be changing the poll from CL winner to who do you think will win each major league at this point (contemplating whether or not I should include the Ligue 1 Farmers League. The results from the CL poll:

Bayern: 11
PSG: 3
Liverpool: 2
Man City: 4
Juventus: 1
Real Madrid: 1
Barcelona: 2
Chelsea: 2
Dortmund: 1
Other votes: 8

The new poll will cover the Premier League.

Where’s Aston Villa? For the first time in decades they have a legitimate chance st being in the top 5.

Then vote for "someone else" in the poll. The options usually cover the usual contenders (Arsenal is excluded since they're not a usual contender, sorry for any Gunners fans who happen to stumble on this forum somehow).

[Mathuvan Union]

Where’s Aston Villa? For the first time in decades they have a legitimate chance st being in the top 5.

Then vote for "someone else" in the poll. The options usually cover the usual contenders (Arsenal is excluded since they're not a usual contender, sorry for any Gunners fans who happen to stumble on this forum somehow).

Yet another nullified argument for recognition of the claret and blue glory

[Outer Sparta]

Then vote for "someone else" in the poll. The options usually cover the usual contenders (Arsenal is excluded since they're not a usual contender, sorry for any Gunners fans who happen to stumble on this forum somehow).

Yet another nullified argument for recognition of the claret and blue glory

Yet Burnley calls themselves the clarets interestingly.

[The Archregimancy]

I worked in Qatar for a few months at the end of 2013.

Late autumn and winter temperatures aren't actually so bad. Rain and temperatures in the teens [celsius] aren't uncommon.

The main issue is that it has the single most dismal landscape of any country I've ever been to; endless vistas of flat, grey, dull, sandy plains. Doha itself isn't much better. The architecture in the city centre is superficially attractive (laughing at the condom tower will distract visitors for about 10 minutes), but there's barely anything to detain the casual tourist. The Museum of Islamic Art perhaps acts as a metaphor: architecturally impressive, some interesting exhibits, but with a vast hollow space at the centre - and most of the museum curatorial staff were let go about 5 years ago as part of a tiresome spat between the Emir and his sister. Meanwhile, the 'traditional' Souq Waqif was razed to the ground and then rebuilt from the ground up to make it better; so none of those 'old' buildings are in fact real. Al Zubarah is a UNESCO World Heritage site, but few people will take the trouble to drive 90 minutes outside of Doha through the dismal landscape to visit a bunch of ruins of an 18th-century pearl-fishing town with minimal interpretation that only an archaeologist could love (ahem).

The new national museum opened in 2019, and I haven't had the chance to visit - but if your main tourist offers are an Islamic Art museum that'll take an afternoon at best, a 'traditional' souq that's in no way authentic, the opportunity to spend the night in a desert that's just flat grey sand crust, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that has little for the casual visitor to see, and a new national museum that's little more than a propaganda factory about the glories of Qatari culture, then I imagine that most World Cup visitors will not be eager to stay in Doha any longer than they need to. Assuming that the internal GCC tiff over Qatar is resolved by 2022, then most visitors will be taking the short flight to the UAE or Bahrain for something to do - even if Qatar loosens its rules on alcohol consumption. Even Saudi Arabia will look more attractive as a destination by then if the Crown Prince continues his work on opening the country up to tourism (though, truth in advertising, note that this is something I've recently been asked to support). If given a choice between a weekend in Doha or a weekend in the more interesting Saudi destinations, I know which I'd pick. Hint: it wouldn't be Doha.

So no, I wouldn't have awarded the World Cup to Qatar.

It's pretty noteworthy that Qatar hardly has football infrastructure and even a football history. Their national team is mostly comprised of naturalized foreigners than native Qataris.

I agree on the infrastructure. Almost all of the matches will be in Doha; only the matches in Al Khor (which will include the opening match, but no matches after the first round) will be outside of the immediate vicinity of Doha. Technically, the government is claiming that the matches in Al-Rayyan, Lusail, and Al-Wakrah are outside Doha, but while these are technically separate municipalities for local government purposes, they're just suburbs of Doha. Claiming that they're different places would be a bit like hosting a national sporting occasion in New York City, and then holding a small number of events in Yonkers just so the organisers can state that they're not all in New York City.

As to Qatar's footballing history... I agree that it has very little, but not quite as little as people may realise. Their first club was founded in the 1950s, and the league has been running since the early 1960s. In fact, I personally attended what was likely Qatar's finest footballing moment - a 2-2 draw with France in the 1984 Olympic football tournament, in a match held at the slightly odd location (not least because of the distance from the host city) of the Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis.

One of the great shames, though, is that they're actively destroying some of their existing footballing heritage to prepare for the tournament. The Qataris decided to demolish their most distinctive and architecturally interesting stadium - Ash Shamal Stadium in the far north - and replace it with a dull modern stadium for the World Cup, and then decided not to hold matches in Ash Shamal anyway.

Ash Shamal is built in the form of a traditional Qatari fort, and is quite the local landmark for the few people who make it to far northwestern Qatar (a group which includes me):

You're also a little harsh on the composition of the current team. While Qatar have been guilty of some fairly sharp naturalisation practices in the past - once fielding three naturalised Brazilians - their most recent AFC qualification squad of 23 players contains 17 native Qataris (note that the current AFC tournament is double qualification for the 2022 World Cup and the 2023 AFC championship - so Qatar are playing despite not needing to qualify for the former). The balance of the squad is made up of players born in Algeria (2), Sudan (2), Egypt (1), and Iraq (1). They might well be tempted to be a bit naughty about this again as we approach 2022, but the current squad at least is more or less innocent.


None of which changes the fact that Qatar is a moronic location for a World Cup.

[Outer Sparta]

It's pretty noteworthy that Qatar hardly has football infrastructure and even a football history. Their national team is mostly comprised of naturalized foreigners than native Qataris.

I agree on the infrastructure. Almost all of the matches will be in Doha; only the matches in Al Khor (which will include the opening match, but no matches after the first round) will be outside of the immediate vicinity of Doha. Technically, the government is claiming that the matches in Al-Rayyan, Lusail, and Al-Wakrah are outside Doha, but while these are technically separate municipalities for local government purposes, they're just suburbs of Doha. Claiming that they're different places would be a bit like hosting a national sporting occasion in New York City, and then holding a small number of events in Yonkers just so the organisers can state that they're not all in New York City.

As to Qatar's footballing history... I agree that it has very little, but not quite as little as people may realise. Their first club was founded in the 1950s, and the league has been running since the early 1960s. In fact, I personally attended what was likely Qatar's finest footballing moment - a 2-2 draw with France in the 1984 Olympic football tournament, in a match held at the slightly odd location (not least because of the distance from the host city) of the Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis.

One of the great shames, though, is that they're actively destroying some of their existing footballing heritage to prepare for the tournament. The Qataris decided to demolish their most distinctive and architecturally interesting stadium - Ash Shamal Stadium in the far north - and replace it with a dull modern stadium for the World Cup, and then decided not to hold matches in Ash Shamal anyway.

Ash Shamal is built in the form of a traditional Qatari fort, and is quite the local landmark for the few people who make it to far northwestern Qatar (a group which includes me):

You're also a little harsh on the composition of the current team. While Qatar have been guilty of some fairly sharp naturalisation practices in the past - once fielding three naturalised Brazilians - their most recent AFC qualification squad of 23 players contains 17 native Qataris (note that the current AFC tournament is double qualification for the 2022 World Cup and the 2023 AFC championship - so Qatar are playing despite not needing to qualify for the former). The balance of the squad is made up of players born in Algeria (2), Sudan (2), Egypt (1), and Iraq (1). They might well be tempted to be a bit naughty about this again as we approach 2022, but the current squad at least is more or less innocent.


None of which changes the fact that Qatar is a moronic location for a World Cup.

Other concerns are regarding their treatment of migrant workers building the stadium and their policy on LGBTs such as their policy of executing LGBTs. In a fair world, Qatar would never get the nod for a World Cup based on many factors, but since the power of money and corruption is added to the equation, it tips it into Qatar's favor.