Russia to Host World Cup in 2018

[MeMyselfAndI]

Two nations that have never hosted major soccer tournaments have been chosen to host the next two World Cup events in 2018 and 2022. Russia will host the first, the Middle Eastern nation of Qatar - the second. The World Cup is one of the biggest sporting events in the world, expected to bring in billions of dollars in revenue to the host nations.

Six nations combined to put together four bids to host the 2018 World Cup. Spain and Portugal teamed up, as did the Netherlands and Belgium. Russia and England were the other two contenders. Twenty-two members of the executive committee of football's ruling body, FIFA, cast votes. FIFA President Sepp Blatter announced the winner.

"The 2018 FIFA World Cup, ladies and gentleman, will be organized in Russia."

Russia will have to build new stadiums and infrastructure such as airports and train lines to cater to the hundreds of thousands expected to come to the tournament.

Russia's deputy prime minister, Igor Shuvalov was jubilant as he accepted the gold World Cup trophy.

"You have entrusted us with [the] FIFA World Cup for 2018, and I just can promise, we all can promise you will never regret [it]. Let us make history together."

The theme of the Russian bid was "ready to inspire." Russian President Vladimir Putin says Russia will do everything possible to stage a good World Cup. He was not in Zurich for the announcement. FIFA President Blatter offered his congratulations.

"I am sure that to organize the World Cup in that region - in this continent, and Russia is a continent, will do a lot of good to this part of the world. Congratulations to Russia."

Blatter then announced the host of the 2022 games.

"Shall I recall the candidates, Australia, Japan, Korea, Qatar, United States of America. The winner to organize the 2022 FIFA World Cup is Qatar."

Sheikh Mohammed Bin Hamad Al-Thani headed his nation's bid.

"Thank you for believing in change, thank you for believing in expanding the game, thank you for giving Qatar a chance, and we will not let you down. You will be proud of us, you will be proud of the Middle East and I promise you this."

Qatar, too, will have to build new facilities to accommodate the games.

The lobbying process was highly competitive, Australia sent supermodel Elle Macpherson, the United States had actor Morgan Freeman, former president Bill Clinton and, on film, President Obama. Britain's prime minister, star soccer player David Beckham and Prince William campaigned for England.

The choices of Russia and Qatar sends soccer's largest event to parts of the world it has never been before.



http://www.voanews.com/english/news/Russia-to-host-World-Cup-in-2018-Qatar---in-2022-111195799.html (http://www.voanews.com/english/news/Russia-to-host-World-Cup-in-2018-Qatar---in-2022-111195799.html)

Well, people are certainly happy: http://pics.top.rbc.ru/top_pics/uniora/14/1291302018_0014.250x200.jpeg (http://pics.top.rbc.ru/top_pics/uniora/14/1291302018_0014.250x200.jpeg)

lol

I also love how Putin chose not to attend the vote as he 'did not want the FIFA committee members to feel pressured' by his presense. :D

Oh, man... I think Russia is taking on too much. 2014 Olympics, 2018 World Cup... I don't know if she can pull it...

[Michael]

Oh, man... I think Russia is taking on too much. 2014 Olympics, 2018 World Cup... I don't know if she can pull it...

Wow! That's big news. And yes, that's a lot to chew on.

[MeMyselfAndI]

Wow! That's big news. And yes, that's a lot to chew on.

Well, I mean, as far as football stadiums, we have some actually ready.

Moscow has Luzhniki:
http://projects.homelan.lg.ua/4images/data/media/2/Luzhniki.jpg
78,360 seats, all covered
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luzhniki_Stadium

Dynamo:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Dynamo_Stadium.jpg
36,540 seats
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamo_Stadium_%28Moscow%29

Lokomotiv
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/Lokomotiv_Stadium.jpg
28,800 seats
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lokomotiv_Stadium_%28Moscow%29

There are two new stadiums planned

Spartak
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ru/0/03/Spartak_stadium.jpg
To seat 42,000 people. To be completed by 2012

and

CSKA
http://www.cskalogia.ru/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/a604b9d92063072455b8889c87245d42.jpg
To seat 30,000. Completed by 2013.

Saint Petersburg has:

Gazprom Arena (also known as New Zenit Stadium)http://www.gazeta.spb.ru/f/STADION/JP1.jpg

Under construction. Currently undergoing expansion from 62,000 seats to 67,000. To be open by 2011.

Kazan, Tatarstan has:

Central Stadium
Old:
http://aboutkazan.com/images/kazan-russia-soccer-stadium.jpg
30,133 seats

New:
http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/1579/59f38a50d080mk8.jpg
50,000 seats. To be completed by 2012.

Yekaterinburg has

Central Stadium
http://s16.radikal.ru/i191/1005/0d/2e2500e285b1.jpg
44,130 seats. Currently in reconstruction to be reopened by 2011.

That's about it, for now. I don't know. I am optimistic. But I don't know.

[Margot]

See, now, if I were into sports I could go to the Olympics in '14, join the Russian Army, and be a citizen by the time the World Cup rolled around!

[MeMyselfAndI]

See, now, if I were into sports I could go to the Olympics in '14, join the Russian Army, and be a citizen by the time the World Cup rolled around!

Sounds like a nice plan :)

[Zarquon]

See, now, if I were into sports I could go to the Olympics in '14, join the Russian Army, and be a citizen by the time the World Cup rolled around!
ANd if you get married and have three kids while you're at it, you would also get a plot of land!;)

[Margot]

ANd if you get married and have three kids while you're at it, you would also get a plot of land!;)

You read my mind! I wonder if I could adopt... I could name them Olga, Maria, and Irina! :lol:

(And, of course, if they're boys I'll name them all Ivan, after the only Karamazov I like)

[MeMyselfAndI]

You read my mind! I wonder if I could adopt... I could name them Olga, Maria, and Irina! :lol:

(And, of course, if they're boys I'll name them all Ivan, after the only Karamazov I like)

You may succeed too. The law is very unclear, as I said. peopel still ask, for example, if twins are born and you already have 1, do you get that counted as three? Or, what if you have three children, but one is from an earlier marriage? And, yes, nobody sure about adopted.

[Americano]

You may succeed too. The law is very unclear, as I said. peopel still ask, for example, if twins are born and you already have 1, do you get that counted as three? Or, what if you have three children, but one is from an earlier marriage? And, yes, nobody sure about adopted.

Are the baby(s) bonus and plot of land grant programs in place and funding or is this legislation yet to be implemented?

[MeMyselfAndI]

Are the baby(s) bonus and plot of land grant programs in place and funding or is this legislation yet to be implemented?

The maternity capital is already there. The land thing, depends. In some regions local governments have already implemented it.

[MeMyselfAndI]

You know, I was talking to some friends. We started thinking: for Russia-England match at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Euro 2008, they had to surround the place with 10,000 OMON paramilitary troops
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Tambov_OMON_in_Nizhny_Novogord.jpg

1,000 ODON (Dzerzhinsky Special Purpose Unit, FSB paramilitary) troops
http://77rus.smugmug.com/Military/Defender-of-the-Fatherland-Day/IMG22/792772472_nxdtQ-O.jpg

maybe 20,000 regular police including horsemen
http://www.calend.ru/img/content_images/i0/352_or.jpg

inside were thousands of plainclothes FSB, MUR (Mocow Criminal Police) and RUBOP (anti-organized crime police) operatives, and there were 50-man Specnaz teams concealed in the trees in the park around Luzhniki. According to some rumors, soldiers and officers from the Army's elite Kantemirov regiment, wearing civilian clothes, also mingled among the fans and helped keep order.

If that is what it took to pull off ONE successful match... What will they have to do for the entire World Cup?

I am feeling worse and worse about this.

[Michael]

They probably were worried about an English victory - and the Russian fans not reacting well to that. Knowing that if that happened it would be HUGE news for European media (and kill any chance of Russia getting the World Cup). A Russian victory (2:1 in fact) wouldn't (and didn't) cause a mass-crowd security problem.

Given that, it doesn't surprise me that the 'authorities' pulled out all the stops to ensure that nothing violent was going to happen.

But you are right, if the authorities felt they needed that kind of security for one very high-profile match, then the World Cup is going to be nuts with more security forces than spectators! :lol:

[MeMyselfAndI]

They probably were worried about an English victory - and the Russian fans not reacting well to that. Knowing that if that happened it would be HUGE news for European media (and kill any chance of Russia getting the World Cup). A Russian victory (2:1 in fact) wouldn't (and didn't) cause a mass-crowd security problem.

Given that, it doesn't surprise me that the 'authorities' pulled out all the stops to ensure that nothing violent was going to happen.

But you are right, if the authorities felt they needed that kind of security for one very high-profile match, then the World Cup is going to be nuts with more security forces than spectators! :lol:

Well, they are right to worry about the hooligans. Football hooligans here are more rabid than even the famous English.

Spartak Moscow fans particularly crazy
http://corrupcia.net/files/texts/image/29%282%29.jpg
http://fanzona.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/17.jpg
http://fratria.ru/download2/fratria_1__2_.40196.source.jpg

Though, Zenit Saint Petersburg is not far behind
http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/5406/s-che.1c/0_47f09_a48f1d92_orig.jpg
http://zenit-best.narod.ru/1024-813601.jpghttp://rusfan.ru/arc/pic/15107/DFWUU.jpg

Those two have had some epic street battles over the years, Red vs Blue

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIBlJ9wmXtc

:D

[Donkey]

Eh. That's nothing I didn't see in South America. Plus those are club teams, yeah?

[MeMyselfAndI]

Eh. That's nothing I didn't see in South America. Plus those are club teams, yeah?

Yes. For World Cup I fear they'll join forces.

Along with 3d Wildest: Rubin Kazan
http://inkazan.ru/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/IMG_0170.jpghttp://www.l-oko.ru/photoz/2009/wel/rubin_loko/76.jpghttp://futbol-1960.ru/UserFiles/7%28362%29.jpg

These guys burned down their home stadium, three years ago, after Rubin lost to their great rival, Dinamo Ufa. :D

[Donkey]

In my experience, the passions run WAY higher in club rivalry than in international matches.

In South America, the club matches are often dangerous, whereas the international games are the "family games" where you take your kids.

[Michael]

As far as I'm concerned, Russia seeking to increase her prestige and international profile by hosting Olympics and the World Cup is a great improvement over previous or alternative methods (i.e. massive Warsaw Pact armies and Cold War posturing).

[MeMyselfAndI]

Yesterday we had another fun time with football fans

Recently, a Spartak Moscow hooligan was killed in a fight, died after being shot with a pneumatic weapon.

"He saw the fight. One of the people being beaten was his friend. He screamed for them to stop and fired twice into the ground, - said Goncharova - after that, they went after him. He was grabbed from behind, wrestled onto the front of a car."
According to his lawyer, with his free hand, in which he managed to keep the pistol, Cherkesov fired backward, and could not see if he hit anyone. As a result, 4 bullets killed Sviridov, killing him.

The lawyer explains that Cherkesov bought the gun after being attacked several times in the Metro and on commuter trains, for his visible Caucasian ethnicity

http://www.gazeta.ru/social/2010/12/08/3460001.shtml
So, just for the record, Aslan Cherkesov was defending his friend and himself from neo-nazi Spartak fan motherfuckers.

Anyway, yesterday evening, we had maybe a thousand idiots in black clothes and masks
http://spb.kp.ru/upimg/3dbcf1e95a9df2bc3cfa526f880f3a43063654af/252522.jpg
block Leningradsky Prospekt, one of the busiest streets. Traffic was backed up for hours. For some reason, OMON, instead of doing something good with their batons and tear gas for once, simply negotiated with the hooligans to get them to step aside and let cars pass. Frankly, some of the drivers wanted to take matters in their own hands, at times. But, OMON surrounded the hooligans, separating them from others.

And they promise more actions like these. Cowards. I am going to have my rifle in the back seat of my car from now on. Any Fratria (Spartak hooligan association) asshole who tries to mess with me, or my family, will get a bullet in the stomach, and not a rubber or gas one. I am sick of them.

As the guys in Derbent, Dagestan said, in a good message to Spartak, Last time Anzhy played Spartak, half a year ago:
http://www.kavkaz-uzel.ru/system/attachments/0001/4990/baner_view.jpg?1287158203
'Our Grandfathers helped kill Hitler. We'll kill his grandsons too.'

At least some want to defend our Grandfathers' honor and memory, not spit on it every day.

[Michael]

'Our Grandfathers helped kill Hitler. We'll kill his grandsons too.'

At least some want to defend our Grandfathers' honor and memory, not spit on it every day.
Yes, that's good to see. This is called 'pluralism' where different groups in society push for the ideas that they favor.

Russia beat the Nazis once. I'm hopeful they can do it again.

[Donkey]

And those are both "Russian" teams yeah?

Which I think bolsters my point that international games will be more chill.

[MeMyselfAndI]

Yes, that's good to see. This is called 'pluralism' where different groups in society push for the ideas that they favor.

Russia beat the Nazis once. I'm hopeful they can do it again.

Except it wouldn't be against Germans now. That is the thing. Today, it is Russian vs Russian.

One one hand the Nazis, fascists, and soccer hooligans I already mentioned.

On the other, antiFA, who are also becoming stronger now.

Some are peaceful, merely hold protests for minority rights, homosexualists' rights, equality, against xenophobia
http://img11.nnm.ru/0/6/6/3/5/88471bf1bcf82b3cb8a3ae66c21.jpg
I stand with those, absolutely.

Others though are equally extreme to the nazis

http://piter.indymedia.org/files/piter-antifa-25032008.JPG_.jpg
http://www.svpressa.ru/photo/11323-18.jpghttp://svpressa.ru/photo/11323-2.jpg
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/VG0a-2CRxyI/hqdefault.jpg
http://g.foto.radikal.ru/0611/4216c35476ff.jpg
http://cs304.vkontakte.ru/u8495801/44745700/x_0bb68bdb.jpg

The real radical ones identify themselves by wearing red shoelaces. So-called Red Skinheads. Anarchists. They blew up a railroad near Saint Petersburg, not long ago, and may have had something to do with the Nevsky Express crash (don't know if you heard of it, around 30 people died there). Though, the main guy was let out couple days ago: not enough evidence against him.

It's a civil war, a new civil war. Really is.

There are also all sorts of minority, particularly Muslim, North Caucasian militias who attack anyone who looks nazi.

The Black Eagles, though they are all in jail now.

[MeMyselfAndI]

Well, congratulations to the Spartak idiots. Saturday they had another demonstration on Manezhnaya Square, turned into a riot, they beat up non-Slavic people, attacked police, 120 arrested.

But, that's not the most interesting part. Most interesting part is, today, call went out on Internet, to Caucasian diasporas in Moscow to assemble at shopping centers, they will be avenging their brothesr who were beaten up on Saturday.

The red scarved morons wanted a ethnic war on the streets, well, they got one now.
http://kp.ru/daily/24606/776830/

[NickKIELCEPoland]

Maybe having the World Cup, and with thousands of passionate Russians cheering on their team, will persuade Putin that the people are not such bad old sticks, and give them some sort of say in choosing the president.