Sheikh Ahmed al-Yousef, head of Kuwait’s Football Association, said that Kuwait cannot facilitate the conditions of participating in hosting some of the World Cup matches.
Yousef told Kuwait’s al-Rai newspaper that it is hard to accommodate FIFA’s main conditions in Kuwait, the biggest of which is allowing all nationalities to enter the country with a visa upon arrival, including Israel.
He added: “Even if we selectively picked the teams playing in Kuwait, we cannot prevent the audience from attending. There are also alcohol brands that are sponsoring the event and would like to sell and promote its products during the games, and that is forbidden and criminalized in Kuwait, so how would we solve this problem?” [Source]
I didn’t even know Kuwait was even in the consideration to co-host the World Cup. This is such a huge missed opportunity, one which I don’t think we’ll have again. Qatar spent a lot of money getting the World Cup to come to the region so we basically would have gotten a free ride. The amount of publicity and visitors we would have gotten by hosting the World Cup, and all the improvements the government would have made to the local infrastructure, it’s so sad all this isn’t going to happen now.
27 replies on “Kuwait Will Not Co-Host the World Cup”
*Grabs popcorn*
As much as i would like Kuwait to co-host the world cup, this was not the right time. Sheikh Ahmed al-Yousef was absolutely right about everything he said.
Listing all the reasons would be unnecessary but i’m still going to add to what’s already been mentioned. How are we going to let banned nationalities (Israelis, Syrians, Yemenis, Pakistanis, etc) in? We don’t have enough sidewalks for people to walk on, we don’t have enough roads for the present traffic, we don’t have enough parking spots, we don’t have enough accommodation.
we just don’t have the basics, and throwing money at the problem isn’t going to solve this in 3 years. This requires a little bit of planning, and if 3 years wasn’t enough to prepare for heavy rains, it’s not going to be enough to prepare for world cup matches.
one day, perhaps, but not in 2022.
You’re right in everything you said, but thats how the World Cup would help. By agreeing to host the world cup Kuwait would have had to build new infrastructure and improve what we currently have. Kuwait would have had to improve the roads, improve public transportation, build new multi-story lots, improve the airport, refurbish stadiums, etc.
I personally don’t care about football or the world cup, but the reasons above are why I would have wanted Kuwait to host the world cup. it would have improved things for people who live here.
These 2 points are big leaps of logic:
1. Kuwait can do all those things
2. Doing them would improve the lives of people who live here
Historically, neither the olympics, nor the world cup has had the transformative effect residents hoped it would in less developed countries (examples include brazil, south africa, argentina). Most residents and even economists don’t even think it was worth the financial cost.
And the jury is still out on Qatar. We won’t know whether it was worth it until perhaps 5 or 10 years after its over.
Its not about whether Kuwait could do all these things. Kuwait most certainly has the financial capability to get the ball rolling when it comes to infrastructure development.. Unfortunately, it’s about the willingness and the time.
If Kuwait wanted to host even just 1 game.. they would need to start the development process ASAP and make sure its done a while before the world cup were to begin.. Since efficiency regarding development is not really Kuwait’s strong suit, I see why they would be hesitant to do these things.. how long have we been talking about a metro system again?
The added infrastructure would have 100% benefitted the lives of the people. Better roads, better sidewalks are things that we’ve been saying needed to happen ages ago..
Additionally, the biggest benefit to hosting the world cup would have been the amount of money the tourism could bring.. Hotels are mostly empty because we just don’t have visitors coming by.. Kuwait could easily be a nice tourist destination (and no, I’m not saying we have to be like the UAE)..
When will the country step up?
There won’t be another time.
So in short there won’t be alcohol in this country till 2022…. wic I thought would be legal since they won’t to promote tourism….
Realistically, the only neighbouring country that can co-host the event is the UAE. The Asian Cup this month is a great rehearsal for the World Cup. They have the stadiums, hotels, bars, money, politics and the will to do it. They would, however, need to overcome their differences with Qatar and I believe they will.
So it’s not because of a moral objection to the slave conditions or not having the resources for the stadiums/accommodations for all the visitors, but because people that come from a certain part of the world are simply not allowed here? Israel aside, that includes a handful of other countries, but none of which is likely to participate in the World Cup.
Regardless, it would still be a mess if they did decide to co-host, not because of the reasons stated, but because Kuwait can’t support the extremely high amount of tourism that the World Cup brings.
Tbh less than 24 hours after this, a famous Kuwaiti writer tweeted that Kuwait must fix it’s relations with Israel. Some MPs even supported her. Kuwait didn’t officially reject it the chance to host (according to Kuwaiti news outlets), which could mean something. The entire gcc are warming up to Israel and tbh I’d love to have them come over and visit Israel.
Link please
https://www.arabtimesonline.com/news/writer-ignites-argument-over-call-to-normalize-relations-with-israel/
I’m sorry I thought the person on the bottom was an MP, but he’s a writer.
Bullshit. No MPs nor anyone supported her. Kuwait will never (or will be the last one standing) to normalize with israel.
Why?
Why the fuck not. Israel is war criminal. Look it up.
So you think Kuwait should establish relations with an apartheid, settler state just so you can visit?
Why not? We have relations with China, South Africa, the Uk and America, all of which have done a lot worse shit to Muslims than Israel. Atleast Israel didn’t support saddam, parade his pictures and wrote disgusting shit on Kuwaiti houses.
Totally agree with this.
Do you think it is as simple as that? Not just because they didn’t support saddam we’re supposed to be fine with them and tolerate their existence. It’s about a dying principle. It’s about what Palestine and Jerusalem represent to not only Kuwaitis, but to Muslims everywhere. The unfortunate reality of it all, is a far different story than the one unfolding now.
Yeah… I think it’s pretty much as simple as that. I haven’t seen anything bad come my way from Israelis, I don’t have anything against them. Oh and the dying cause… is dead, it died along time ago when Muslims started massacring each other for money and oil. The real dying cause is peace, you cannot say have Islam without salam, even in greeting we say salam on a daily basis. We read in every holy book that we must make peace with the those that have wronged us and ask god to forgive them. Mohammed PHB was extremely forgiving and he was wise and peaceful enough to forgive the most unforgivable people, how about you be humble enough to do the same and let it be in god’s hands. Everyone is trying to be god, the dirty politicians use god’s holy name to promote hate between people. To truly ask god for forgiveness and mercy (ra7ma) we must first show others the same, be muslameen and bring the salam back to Islam.
If you don’t associate yourself with Islam or its meanings and teachings, then yeah sure, it is as simple as you like it to be. “I haven’t seen anything bad come my way from Israelis, I don’t have anything against them” you don’t have anything against them, huh? So according to your ill statement I should be okay with rapists too right? They never raped me so I’m fine with them…. Right? Definition of BS right there. you’re basically stripping your humanity away. The least you could say is to acknowledge the constant acts of horrific violence they keep committing day in and out. To deny.. But to take it as if it’s a personal matter is very ignorant. But I’m not surprised since you obviously lack any kind of a moral compass.
I can agree with you with that the cause is already dead, sure.
And regarding Islam and associate it directly to peace as the prioritized attribute of the Islamic faith is false because Islam comes from the word “tasleem – تسليم” which if you don’t know, it means submitting. Islam is about submitting to Allah, the teachings of the holy Qura’an and Prophet Mohammad’s Seera.
You might know this, or not, one of the signs to doomsday (if you believe in that but I’m stating the following just to give some insight) is for a great war to start between Muslims and Christians against one common enemy. So, peace have to be compromised one way or another toward the end of this life as we know it.
As much as it’s a great opportunity, Kuwait just isn’t equipped for such a huge event. I always got the feeling that Kuwait just doesn’t want to welcome tourism, understandably though.
We can’t handle rains, Ramadan traffic, school opening day, two or more flights at a time at our airport, or a sale at Avenues.
Handling even the most mundane world cup match would be impossible.
This reminds me, that giant tennis complex next to 360 mall – I guess that won’t be hosting any tennis major tournaments either – and possibly for the exact same reasons.
Sad, really.
I detected an honest lament in Sheikh Ahmad’s statement, and not an outright “holier than thou” dismissal/refusal.
How refreshing!
Kuwait will never recognise Israel. Palestine will be free, from the river to the sea.
Dream on. Keep parroting that line. It’s served you well so far has it not.
What Israel has achieved they fought for it. Of course with God on their side.
You should learn to respect others will to live. If you are speaking for the Palestinians, it is sad for them that ppl like you have hijacked their cause.
Even the qataris are not happy about hosting the world Cup because of the money wasted. Not to mention that it’s not even 2020 and 600 people have died building the infrastructure to host the world Cup. After I knew my love for Fifa went away. I stopped watching after I knew that. You think it’s a missed opportunity but you’ll see what happens to Qatar after the world Cup.