No doubt, Mr. Blatter is an astute politician and an experienced administrator. The decision to take the 2010 World Cup to South Africa was an experiment and a bold statement. The results simply validated Blatter's hypothesis- it is possible to take the biggest event in the world to Africa without any extreme credibility or commercial risk. FIFA's revenue crossed the $1b mark in 2009, mainly driven by revenue from the 2010 World Cup. After the experiment in South Africa, it made sense to do more.
Why should the World Cup go to England instead of Russia? Russia has never hosted the World Cup before and for football, England is a mature market, Russia is not. The World Cup in Russia is good for football, from a developmental point of view and from a commercial point of view. Whatever England may say, Russia was a better choice.
Qatar instead of the USA? Of course, this is the first time the Middle East will be hosting the World Cup and just like Russia, it makes sense. I wonder what the country of 1.6m people will do with the new stadia after the World Cup, but that is a discussion for another day.
England can sulk, America can cry but one day, Blatter will be the President of the World.
