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Wednesday, July 21, 2010

How FIFA Selects World Cup Hosts

The FIFA World Cup is the largest and most prestigious sporting event in the world. The hosts of this event do not have to go through World Cup (WC) qualification and benefit from sports tourism during the event. It is no surprise that host-selection for the World Cup can be controversial and increasingly rigorous. In the modern era, FIFA has attempted to make the criteria for host selection more equitable and transparent.

Since FIFA's host selection policy is dynamic, it is important to understand the context in which it has evolved. Between the first World Cup in 1930 and 2010, the format and rules governing host selection have changed significantly. From the inception, the process was democratic, although voting for the WC host only took place only once (for the 1938 World Cup) between 1930 and 1958. This was because of behind-the-scenes brokering by FIFA executives from bidding countries, which resulted in many countries withdrawing bids in return for support in later bids and other incentives.

== Starting the bidding process ==

Potential host nations have to start to bid process by receiving a "Hosting Agreement" from FIFA. This document outlines the requirements and expectations of FIFA for hosting their marquee event. The bid becomes official when the bidding country completes and submits the proposal form.

== Bid assessment ==

Once FIFA receives the official bid from the potential host, a FIFA Inspection Group must assess the member association's football facilities, general infrastructure and security capabilities, along with other criteria outlined in the Hosting Agreement. Once the FIFA inspectors give approval to the bidding country, FIFA will enter the member association's bid for voting at the FIFA Executive Committee meeting.

== Voting process ==

The "single transferable vote" is the basis for The FIFA Executive Committee's voting process. As such, proportional representation is emphasized, with well-populated confederations like UEFA and CONCACAF having more weight. Votes are taken in rounds and registered by confederations as "constituencies". These votes are transferred to later rounds if several rounds of voting are required.

The politics of FIFA and the power struggle for hosting was a feature of host selection from the inception of the FIFA World Cup. In the early days, inter-continental travel was lengthy and expensive; teams from South America and Europe-the two most influential confederations- wished to avoid lengthy travel. This resulted in only four European teams participating in the 1930 World Cup held in Uruguay. Subsequently, an agreement that World Cup hosting would alternate between Europe and the Americas after the 1958 edition was implemented to reduce controversy.

Bidding alternated between Europe and the Americas until the bidding process for the 2002 World Cup, when the tournament was held in Asia for the first time. South Africa was in line to host the 2006 World Cup, demonstrating the gradual spread of football's concentrated power base. After being controversially defeated by Germany in 2000, FIFA instituted a continental rotation policy to prevent a repeat of that occurrence.

The rotation policy arose out of the increasing competitiveness of bidding and the move away from the dual hosting of Europe and the Americas. To prevent teams and nations from opportunistically riding on joint-bids to the World-Cup, FIFA president Sepp Blatter also confirmed that FIFA does not prefer co-hosting arrangements.

Pressure from stakeholders-UEFA (Europe) in particular-led to a new hosting policy.

FIFA's current ruling (as at 2009) is that any country, except those from the zones that hosted the previous two tournaments, is eligible to bid. This means that Europe would likely get their wish to host every third World Cup, while giving member associations in other zones a realistic chance. This policy also prevents an uncompetitive bidding situation-as happened when Brazil acquired the right to host the 2014 World Cup because it presented the only official bid from CONMEBOL.

Choosing the host for low-profile FIFA world tournaments is less controversial. Given that much is at stake in hosting the men's event, there is bound to be more controversy and high politics. Notwithstanding that, FIFA ensures that the process for selecting hosts results in a host that is competent-on the field and off it.

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