Fifa forgetting the fans again
Friday, 21st October 2011 at 17:50pm
Fifa's decision to make teams play their group stage matches in different cities was based upon them not wanting to hand teams the advantage of playing in the cooler south.
Teams will now have to make journeys of up to 2,000 miles between matches as a result.
That's all well and good for the teams who can afford to move their players, staff and various entourages but what about the fans?
Once it seems that football's governing body couldn't give a toss about the people that keep the game alive.
When it was announced that Brazil had won the right to host the 2014 edition of the global football fiesta, organisers insisted that games would be played in areas close to each other to prevent teams and fans from having to move too far.
The interests of fans now seems to be at the back of Fifa minds as they are more concerned about teams playing in the south having an advantage because of the cooler temperatures.
Yes, there is a noticeable difference in temperatures in the north and south but surely playing three matches in the south before moving to the north would be just as much of a disadvantage?
Fans from Europe, Africa and Asia will have to travel far enough simply to get to Brazil in the first place without having to fork out for additional lengthy cross country trips and it just smacks of Fifa once again blundering in with their bloody great size 12s without thinking things through.
It's funny because heat concerns weren't on the minds of Fifa when they awarded Qatar the 2022 World Cup.
True, all the teams will be playing in the heat creating a level playing field but it will reach temperatures of up to 50 degrees Celsius while the finals are being played.
At least fans in Qatar won't have to make the same huge journeys as those in Brazil and Russia will be forced to do in their respective finals.
Given the tiny size of Qatar they'll almost be able to walk to every venue; well they could if it wasn't so hot.
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