Who is The Fairest Of Them All?
The fourth estate is just one of the players making sure its weight is felt in the intense competition among countries bidding to host the next two world cups: 2018 and 2022
Bidding nations- England, Russia, Spain/Portugal and Netherlands/Belgium for 2018, and Qatar, Australia, South Korea, United States and Japan for the 2022 edition- are engaged in a mad media blitz.
Most efforts are to the positive, however some like the British press spotlight on improprieties in FIFA, are curiously unsettling nerves among bearers of the decision
Bidding to host a world cup is a public relations exercise. It's a PR exercise like no other, with geopolitical implications and some significance on world trade.
The Business Of The FIFA World Cup
The 21st Century if anything, can be termed as the era of globalization.
It is in the 2000's that regions previously on the fringes of global trade such as Brazil, India, China, Nigeria, South Africa, Turkey, Indonesia, South Korea and co have become global leaders.
The world is increasingly becoming aware of itself in all matters from trade to culture in this century.
Take for instance that in 2010, for the first time in the history of the crown competition in football, following a change to a rotation policy by the game's governing body FIFA which aims at taking football to the world; Africa's largest economy, South Africa, successfully hosted the 19th Edition of the FIFA World Cup.
In such a world, where capital moves so freely. A world where capital moves to occupy niche environments which allow it to flourish best by returning maximum profits, countries become much more than just political units. They become brands.
The race to the privilege of playing host to a World Cup is a full blooded marketing clash. A marketing campaign full of the usual intrigues: intense lobbying, accusations, counter accusations, allegations and obnoxious pompous self praise.
Hosting the World cup is a source of National pride. Just like hosting any large event, sporting or otherwise, it is a way of a people to announce their arrival or reaffirm their positions in the global matrix .
Many a times, hosting an event as huge as the World Cup could be the perfect fix for a sluggish economy as it implores investment in infrastructure and security. Little wonder then that countries invest colossal amounts of public resources in strategically positioning themselves globally.
Some like Spain , the reigning FIFA World Cup and Euro cup champions, look to ride on their recent domination of global soccer in a joint bid for the 2018 world cup along neighbors Portugal.
Co-branding, you might call this joint bid.
Not only do the two countries boast of such great football names like Eusebio, Luis Figo, Pep Gurdiola, Jose Mourinho,Cristiano Ronaldo, Nani, David Villa, Raul Gonzales,Xavi, Deco, Iniesta, and Simao Sabrosa ; on offer in the Spain/Portugal FIFA World Cup bid is a chance for lovers of the game to enjoy the beaches and resorts along the coasts of these two countries.
The Soft Power of Football
English premier League star, Arsenal's Russian froward Andrei Arshavin, is the image behind Russia 2018 world cup bid. If anything, Russia has positioned itself in such a way that a world cup in Russia presents an opportunity for the pursuit of FIFA's geo-political goals such as abolishing racism in the modern game.
Right along Russia's 2018 bid and South Africa's successful bid for 2010, the 2022 Qatar bid carries similar weighty geopolitical implications. As already seen with South Africa, hosting a world Cup in these countries provides football with a platform for acting as a unifying force in similar fashion to the way Mahatma Gandhi utilized football in his early days of political activism against apartheid regime in South Africa.
In the midst of competing for football honors, central, leftist, right-wing and other political, religious and ideological inclinations are blurred, offering a chance to utopian ideals of one world.
Moreover, just like the World Cup in South Africa helped deconstruct some of the economic and social misconceptions on Africa, the Qatar 2022 and Russia 2018 bids similarly offer a chance of further integrating these regions into global trade.
The prospect of a Green World Cup & The Promise Of Growth of Football in The Americas
Going green is not only the cool but responsible thing to do in the 21st century. Though global consultations on: how to reduce greenhouse gas levels; bolster sustainability efforts through a global carbon credit trading system and instituting a universally accepted way of punishing heavy polluters without choking global trade have been slow, the Netherlands/ Belgium 2018 bid could prove to be a timely shot in the arm.
Positioning itself as the greenest world cup ever, the Netherlands/Belgium 2018 bid is also not short on World cup history with legendary Dutch star Ruud Gullit leading the bid. Though both nations are great footballing nations, their joint bid is viewed as small in business thus making them lowly ranked outsiders.
If the right to host the 2018 world cup is awarded to this low momentum Netherlands/Belgium 2018 joint bid, FIFA gets to clean up its image, largely tattered thanks to British Media, by crossing a new milestone in transparency.
A strong brand history is in favor of Australia's and USA's 2022 world cup bids as both nations have in the past successfully hosted global sporting events with immense success. In the same breath as the recent 2008 Beijing Olympics, the first Olympics of the 21st century, Sydney 2000, was arguably among the best ever held.
The last world cup that took take place in the USA happened amidst supporter apathy as football was still in its infancy in America. Despite this, World Cup USA 1994 holds the record of the highest stadium attendance ever. Since then, football has grown to great proportions in America with visible success for the USA national team.
In addition, football stars like Arsenal great, ex-Juventus and Barcelona forward, Thierry Henry; ex-Manchester United, Real Madrid and England national team captain, David Beckham, currently ply their trade in Major League Sides.
A Bit of Philanthropy in Qatar's 2020 FIFA World Cup bid
However, Qatar 2022, just edges ahead of these strong USA and Australia 2022 bids as the Arab nation has leveraged it's brand on strong social responsibility: Some of the new stadia to be built as part of Qatar's bid are to be dismantled and relocated to needy regions of the world once the event concludes.
Japan's and South Korea's bid for rights to host the 2022 World cup are backed by strong investments in infrastructure just like England's bid. However, these Asian nations remain outsiders as the sponsoring governments have not backed the bids to FIFA's satisfaction.
Hesitant Japan and South Korea, A confident England
Hesitation on the part of the Japanese and Korean governments makes the brand convey an unclear message which scares investors. The World Cup is no different. This situation does not augur well with their World Cup bids, especially considering the bad publicity brought on by the boiling and spilling of tensions between the Koreas and Japan's sluggish economy.
On the other hand, England's bid for 2018 is backed by a strong delegation of the Kingdom's foremost gentlemen: Social icon David Beckham, Prime minister David Cameron and soon to be wed Prince William have arrived in Zurich a few hours ahead of the crucial vote to push the England bid.
The three lions as the the three English ambassadors have been dubbed, will attempt to sooth hurt egos in FIFA's decision making organ over tea and champagne. All in an attempt to temper the effects of the fiasco brought about by British media expose on corruption in FIFA.
The England 2018 bid is emerging as a challenger to Russia's strong case. The success of the English premier league and its claim to be the motherland of football work hugely in its favor.
On Thursday December 3rd 2010, two of the most important decisions concerning the world's favorite sport, football, will be made in Zurich Switzerland. The next home of the sport's premier show piece will be for all to know, thereby marking the midpoint rather than the culmination of power play, perception manipulation and a host of business deals.
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