On Wednesday, FIFA will make official the organization of the 2030 World Cup on three continents with three matches in South America and the other 101 in Morocco, Spain and Portugal, for a total of 48 teams.
“Ecological aberration”
“An unfortunate geographical choice”, Benja Faecks, from the NGO Carbon Market Watch, assesses in statements to AFP, which highlights the inconsistency with past promises of the organizers of large events.
This organization, specialized in analyzing the climate bill of companies, governments or events, draws attention to a gigantic competition, divided between venues thousands of kilometers away that involves air transportation, not only for the teams, but also for hundreds of thousands of fans. .
With its decision, FIFA also seeks to promote football around the world, says David Gogishvili, a researcher at the University of Lausanne.
Three games will be played in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay to commemorate the centenary of the first football World Cup, that of Uruguay in 1930. “But in environmental terms it’s a crazy idea,” adds this university expert.
The format of the competition (48 teams from the 2026 edition, compared to the 32 until 2022), the chosen venues, the sponsors [como la empresa petrolera saudita Aramco desde principios de este año]… “And if the planet dies, well, what a shame,” says ironically Guillaume Gouze, from the Center for Sports Law and Economics, linked to the University of Limoges (France).
The concern about decarbonization, very present in Europe, “it is not necessarily shared everywhere”says Gouze.
FIFA, as the highest football entity, has “a moral responsibility when it comes to addressing these issues,” point. But instead, he points out, he proposes World Cups with a format that is “an ecological aberration.”
More teams, more fans
“Going from 32 to 48 teams is almost worse than having the World Cup on three continents”estimates Aurelien François, professor of sports management at the University of Rouen, also in France.
“More teams means more fans eager to go to the venues, more needs in terms of hotels and restaurants and more waste. The countries chosen for the 2030 edition already have stadiums [al contrario que Catar para 2022 o Arabia Saudita, que será elegida oficialmente como sede para 2034]which will mean that at least in that matter the pollution and the impact will be less.
Antoine Miche, director of the Football Ecologie France association, recalls the problems of drought and lack of water in previous summers in those parts of the world, something that would be aggravated by the massive influx of millions of visitors.
On the side of the fans
“Co-organization is not necessarily a problem”estimates Ronan Evain, from the Football Supporters Europe association, based in Hamburg (Germany), citing the 2022 event in South Korea and Japan as an example.
“But by 2030 there are too many questions,” said.
What will happen to transfers between Morocco and southern Europe? And what about the environmental and economic costs (for fans) if the draw assigns a match in South America? In addition, the players in those three games could suffer from jet lag and temperature differences.
Is it worth crossing the Atlantic? “True fans will make these trips. Out of passion, they can do incoherent things,” comments Antoine Miche.
Proposals for the future
Looking to the future, FIFA could take inspiration from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which, for example, no longer grants the Games to a city that has to build everything for the event, underlines David Gogishvili, from the University of Lausanne.
Choosing a place with fewer distances than the 2026 (United States, Canada, Mexico) and 2030 editions is necessary but not sufficient, according to the researchers.
They remember above all that the 2022 World Cup in Qatar was held in a very “compact” place, in a very small radius of kilometers, but to do so new stadiums had to be built and air-conditioned.
Another idea for the future, to reduce air transport: establish “regional limits.” That is to say, reserving a large part of the tickets in the stadiums for fans coming from a perimeter of a few hundred kilometers and encouraging travel by train.
Guillaume Gouze, like other experts questioned by AFP, advocates multiplying ‘fan zones’ in the big cities of the football planet, so that fans “live a collective experience” in front of a giant screen and not in the stadium, but with the atmosphere of a great event.
To do this, FIFA would have to accept the impact that this could have in terms of the economic profitability of its most important tournament. For some fans, who only conceive of experiencing the World Cup inside the stadium, the formula may not be enough.
Source: Ambito
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