Benelux countries World Cup 2018 bid
There are three possible bids coming from Europe. These are England (the most powerful), Russia and the Benelux countries (the least powerful). Benelux is an abbreviation of Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg. A combined bid between these countries is being considered. Organisers behind this likely bid are saying that rotating this competition between the large countries will remove the fun from the competition. They are hoping to have the backing of the smaller football countries that believe that the World Cup should also be staged by relatively small countries.
Luxembourg, the smallest of the three countries, is ranked 149th in the FIFA rankings. It is unlikely to be involved much in the bid, and will not even host a game, due to the lack of suitable stadiums. Therefore, we won’t have Luxembourg qualifying automatically for the World Cup and conceding record goals against the big sides. On the other hand, Holland and Belgium will be very pleased to avoid qualification and go straight to the finals. One problem which Holland faces is the low capacity of stadiums, with only two with a capacity over 40000. Belgium is even weaker in this aspect with practically no modern stadiums having over 40 thousand seats.
The geographical setting would be excellent, with the Benelux countries being at the heart of Europe, making it easy for Europeans to travel to watch the World Cup. The Benelux countries hosted the European Championships in 2000. However, FIFA has given indications that it is against another joint bid to host the World Cup, as the costs would be too high. UEFA is likely to back just one bid, and to say the truth, it is very improbable that it would choose to back the Benelux bid over the more attractive English and Russian bids.
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Saying this is the least powerful bid, is really underestimating the potential in here. Because both Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg are part of 1 political union (Benelux) the will act like 1 organizing comity. This would directly counter all criticism relating to problems with more then 1 organization. Also, do not forget the success of Euro 2000 at the time.
Moreover, in Rotterdam (Feyenoord), Amsterdam (AFC Ajax) and Eindhoven (PSV), plans have been made to create or expand existing stadiums (With Rotterdam and Amsterdam planning around 70′000 capacity at least). In Belgium cities as Antwerp, Brugge & Liege also have plans involving creating World Championship suitable stadiums.
Meeting the requirements with also giving smaller countries a chance of organizing a massive tournament, the fact that the Netherlands and Belgium are regular participants at European and World Championships and that the infrastructure is suitable for this event. Also stating that there are plans to create the necessary large stadiums, I must say that I really believe in the odds of these countries taking price.
P.S. According to Yahoo News, Belgium & Netherlands have officially declared themselves as candidate. The first official candidate as of the 17th of February.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/cpress/20080217/ca_pr_on_ru_so/soc_wcup2018_2
Just remenber 2000. The best euro cup ever. I support Netherlands or the Benelux to 2018.
the bid of the Netherlands is gonna suprise you i really think they have a good chance.Just look back at euro 2000, one of the best tournaments since years.
But it’s a hard race to get the worldcup 2018.
More about the dutch bid also on http://www.wkvoetbal2018.com
why the BeNeLux bid would be the weakest of the 3 known bids (UK, Russia, BeNeLux)?
There are a lot of advantages: the distances between the host cities are small, the performance of Euro 2000 was excellent and the stadiums (some of them must be build or extended) are modern and meet all safety requirements!
The following cities :
Belgium
*Brussels: new stadium will be build (min 60.000)
*Antwerpen: new stadium will be build (min 50.000)
*Brugge: new stadium to will build (min 42.000)
*Luik:new stadium will be build (42.000)
*Genk: now 25000;will be extended to 42.000
*Charleroi:now 25.000;extended to 42.000
Holland
*Rotterdam:new stadium will be build (90.000)
*Rotterdam:Feyenoord stadium:52.000
*Amsterdam:Arena:now 52.000;will be extended to 75.000
*Amsterdam:Olympisch Stadion:now 22.500;if necessary can be extended to 44.000
*Eindhoven:Philipsstadium:now 36.500;will be extended to 45.000
*Enschede:Grolsch Veste:now 24.000; will be extended to 42.000
*Heerenveen:Abe Lenstra Stadium:now 26.000;will be extended to 42.000
The Benelux bid is a strong one. Stadia and infrastructure is just as good as in England and the welcome will be just as warm. The biggest issue I see is the dual-bid aspect which could alienate Uefa countries as it would mean less WC qualification slots for others. So I suspect this, and the belief that England will be most likely to win it for Europe will scupper the Dutch bid by not winning uefa support. Don’t underestimate English arrogance ruining their chances though – just look at this website.
I like the looks of all three World Cup bids in Europe (althoguh of course I’d be thrilled to have England take it up).
It seems very likely [in common sense] that the 2018 Cup will be a European one, and all three candidates have very strong bids to put forward to the UEFA.
The dual-bid of course will be the major thorn in the BeNeLux bid, seeing as FIFA doesn’t want another dual World Cup. But either way, the cup will be a great one.
(And heck, if England misses out on this one, no doubt will poke at the next one too)
De new Feyenoordstadium wil have a capacity of 110.000+.
2 options first 80.000(3 rings) en than a fourth for a World cup or Olympic City.
Option 2, directly 110.000+ seater.
This stadium wil be built, even with out a World cup. It has been very long in the planning. It’s ready between 2013-2015.
This stadium will be a combination of Wembley, Emirates stadium, Alianz Arena, The old Feijenoord stadium and Reliant Stadium in Houston.
It’s bigger than Wembley, because in the case of the Olympics, the 1st ring must be removed.
Wembley also had that possibility, but the capacity reduction would be to much to host the Olympics.
Personally I think being an underdog is always a nicer position than being a favourite. I think Australia will narrowly win the bid from England. Australia has proven itself as a true sportive nation back in 2000 as organizers of the Summer Olympics. But since 2006 my country Holland has supported Australia too. We know what Guus Hidding did in 2006 and now another Dutch coach is leading the Australian national team in South Africa: Pim Verbeek!
I also think that FIFA would see more in Australia than England. I don’t know why exactly. Perhaps…England wants it a bit…too much? They have too much money and they should not look overly optimistic. Too much optimism borders arrogance a tad bit. But we’ll see.
Anyway, I think the Holland/Belgium bid has got a better chance to win the World Cup 2022 organization.
PLUS, mind my words: ‘Financial Fair Play’ will be a hot lobby-subject during the bid-voting process! With this new hot subject, UEFA-chairman Michael Platini and (Dutch) UEFA-board member and chairman of KNVB Michael van Praag have already sought media publicity. The most recent news concerning ‘financial fair play’ is the overwhelming financial power of English and Spanish football clubs. The recent transfers of Kaka and Ronaldo show how much especially English clubs are doing other, smaller football nations big harm. Here in Holland we have to fight for that. Perhaps preventing such idiot high transfer prices will not happen, but with lobby-work Holland-Belgium can win a WC 2018 or WC 2022.
Off course the most powerfull bid comes from England (the staduims, the traditions) bud dont underestimate the lobby off the Ducth and the Belgians. And more the economy is more strong in the Eurozone from the Benelux than in GB, we see what it brings in the Ukrane for euro 2012. And what iff the Ducth become world champion next year in South Africa so short for the choice off the hosting country 2018. The best adverticement can be made on the pitch.
I think England Should Have To world Cup in 2018 We Have Got the Olmpics Why Not The World Cup ?