NOS Voetbal•vandaag, 12:04
In 2017, the Netherlands organized the European Football Championship for women. That went well: the tournament was a great success and was even won. If it is up to the KNVB, that success will be continued ten years later.
The Netherlands, together with neighboring countries Belgium and Germany, has submitted a bid for the 2027 World Cup. This will be voted on next night and we will know whether ‘we’ can actually organize it.
ANP In 2017, the Dutch women won the European Championships in their own country
FIFA is currently meeting in Bangkok, the capital of Thailand. Various matters are held there, such as a World Cup for women’s club teams. And so a vote is being taken on the allocation of the World Cup for national teams in 2027.
207 Member States may cast their votes; all these votes carry equal weight. The bid of the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany has one remaining competitor: that of Brazil. So at least 104 votes are needed to win.
What does the prayer look like?
The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany have submitted a strong ‘all-round bid’, according to world football association FIFA. The plan of the three European countries largely revolves around infrastructure and sustainability, all host cities are within a radius of approximately 300 kilometers.
This means that all trips during the European Championships can be made sustainably; the teams can travel to their matches either by public transport or by electric vehicles. This is different from the previous World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, when teams had to cover enormous distances.
The Netherlands would have five host cities (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Eindhoven, Enschede and Heerenveen) and Belgium and Germany four each. All proposed German host cities are located in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, which borders the Netherlands and Belgium.
The intended stadiums
The Netherlands: Johan Cruijff Arena (Amsterdam), De Kuip (Rotterdam), Philips Stadium (Eindhoven), FC Twente Stadium (Enschede), Abe Lenstra Stadium (Heerenveen)
Germany: Westfalenstadion (Dortmund), Veltins Arena (Gelsenkirchen), RheinEnergieStadion (Keulen), Düsseldorf Arena (Düsseldorf)
Belgium: KAA Gent Arena (Ghent), KRC Genk Arena (Genk), Constant Vanden Stock Stadium (Brussels), ZebrArena (Charleroi)
Last week it was announced that FIFA rates Brazil’s bid (slightly) better than those of the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. The Brazilians score four out of five points, the Europeans score 3.7 on the same scale.
The question is whether that really means anything. Each country may cast an individual vote and does not have to take FIFA’s assessment into account. Gijs de Jong, secretary general of the KNVB, is not worried. “The most important thing is to cover the basics. And FIFA says both bids more than do that.”
Collect votes
It is now up to the candidates to collect enough votes through lobbying. It is expected that European countries will go for the ‘Dutch’ bid, while Brazil can count on the support of countries in North and South America.
There are also many votes to be had in the Caribbean, but the question is where they will go. De Jong thinks he can count on many votes there because of, for example, the support of the Netherlands Antilles, although Brazil has the same conviction because of its geographical proximity.
Furthermore, many Asian countries are affiliated with FIFA. To secure those votes, the KNVB delegation previously visited Oman, Jordan and Qatar, among others.
2024-05-16 10:04:58
#Netherlands #awarded #World #Cup
