http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/dec/09/qatar-2022-world-cup-neighbouring-countries

If it was about expanding the game... you'd expect them to go to the US too though.  Like the entire Middle East combined has about an equal population to the US.  Including Turkey, where the game has already expanded.  Plus he's missing the point that people don't think it was that FIFA wanted to make money.  They think it was because Sepp Blatter and some Fifa officials wanted to make money.

Well... dodging i should say.

Yes, outside of South Korea... a bunch of top rate teams won, when they had the World Cup at home.

How does this change the fact that most of the other "weak hosts" greatly floundered?

South Africa should of made it out of the first round for sure.

Though granted, Qatar will have the best outcome ever in a world cup, simply because they wouldn't of ever made the world cup without ever hosting it.

Them 'Stats' show nothing, Uruguay boycotted the 1934 WC, in 1938 France held the WC, holders Italy retained it.

After '66 England got knocked out in the quarters in '70 by W.germany who then went onto host it and win the next WC.

I could go in more detail about past WC results and winners, but if anything all your stats show is you've got to be good enough to win it in the first place. 

Other than that abnormal S.korea result who by the way Spain were completely robbed when they played S.korea, all winners tend to be good enough to win regardless of who hosted it.

What a tool Blatter is.... 

Fifa may have made a "mistake" in awarding the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, according to president Sepp Blatter.

Summer temperatures can reach 50C in the Middle Eastern country.

Football Association chairman Greg Dyke said it would be "impossible"to play in such conditions, and Blatter wants the tournament moved to the winter.

Asked by insideworldfootball.com  about awarding Qatar the tournament, the 77-year-old said: "It may well be that we made a mistake at the time."

Blatter, who in May said it was "not rational" to play the World Cup in Qatar in June and July, added: "On the other hand, you must also consider political and geo-political realities.

"The World Cup is Fifa's biggest, if not only, global event. Who are we, the Europeans, to demand that this event has to cater to the needs of 800million Europeans above all?

"I think it is high time that Europe starts to understand that we do not rule the world anymore, and that some former European imperial powers can no longer impress their will onto others in far away places.

"We must accept that football has moved away from being a European and South American sport - it has become the world sport that billions of fans are excitedly following every week, everywhere in the world."

Blatter hopes Fifa's executive committee will follow his proposal to switch the tournament to the winter when it meets next month.

Should that be the case, the Swiss added: "The next steps will include a close look at the international calendar and to establish what consequences the change would have.

"And we would naturally need to speak to and consult with all interested parties and stakeholders."

Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore said in July  that switching the 2022 World Cup to winter would cause "absolute chaos" for football leagues around the world.

Qatar defeated bids from South Korea, Japan, Australia and the United States to win a ballot of Fifa's 22 executive members in 2010 to host the tournament.