Artificial clouds for 2022 World Cup Football?

By Hafiz MARIKAR

Manilal Fernando the king maker of the game in Sri Lanka, who is also the first Lankan to get into the FIFA executive committee, said that Qatar University’s Mechanical and Engineering department has designed an artificial machine that could cool the open playgrounds to be used during the 2022 World Cup in Doha.

Saud Abul Gani, the head of the department, said the project would be executed in collaboration with the Qatar Science and Technology Park.

He also said that, the people concern are discussing with the QSTP about the costs and to create an initial model on a trail basis.

It is said that the clouds will be manufactured from light carbon materials and totally ingenious sources and will be propelled by four solar powered engine. Artificial clouds would fly at a very high altitude to serve as shields from the direct and indirect sunrays and thereby help in controlling the temperature.

According to news, the said costs for manufacturing the initial model could be around 5,000,000 dollars, but the cost would decrease when produced on a commercial scale.

He said that there have been talks to conduct the 2022 World Cup in winter, so as to avoid playing in temperature up to minus degrees Celsius.

Richest Footballers

Messi, Mourinho is football’s richest Barcelona striker and he beats Cristiano Ronald oven off the field by earning 3.5 million euros more than him.

Richest Footballers Lionel Messi 31 million euros, Cristiano Ronaldo 27.5 million euro, Wayne Rooney 20.7 million euros, David Beckham 19 million euros.

Richest Managers - Jose Mourinho 13.5 million euros, Pep Guradiola 10.5 million euros, Raf Benitez 10.2 million euros, Fabio Capello 8.5 million euros.

The above named are the highest paid players and Managers in World football with combine annual salaries of just over 43.5 million euros.

Two time World Footballer of the year Messi’s income from his salary and publicity deals in 2011 amounted to 31 million euros, while Real Madrid boss Mourinho topped the manager’s rich list with an income of 13.5 million euros according to a French Football magazine.

Tiger woods - highest paid

Messi’s income, while making him the most paid football in the world, still falls along way short of Golfer Tiger woods, who with a revenue of 53 million euros is the highest paid sportsman of them all.

Messi’s nearest rival in the football income stake is Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo with 27.5 million euros with Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney in third place with 20.7 million euro. The English Premier League appears to be the most lucrative league of all with seven representatives in the top 20 list of highest paid players.

Two former premier league stars — David Beckham and Thierry Henry, now playing in the MLS in the United States, are ranked fourth and 11th with salaries of 19 million euros respectively.

Mourinho ranks ahead of his compatriot Barcelona’s Pep Guardiola with 10.5 million euros and former Inter-Milan coach Raphel Benitez 10.2 million euros. England manager Fabio Capello comes in fourth with a salary of 8.5 million euros in France Football’s survey.

Blatter for free flowing football

In the first of a regular series of in-depth FIFA interviews with Joseph S. Blatter, the head of world football gave his insight on many of the hot topics in the game today. Some of the areas covered in September’s agenda included the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa, drawn matches extra time.

Joseph Sep Blatter said: For a few World Cups now, we have been expecting a new champion to emerge.

There was an element of hope that the champion would come from a continent that had not produced a winner before.

South Korea came very close for Asia in 2002, while this time around, a couple of centimetres were the difference between Ghana making the semi-final and being eliminated. Then Spain’s success was well-deserved. In my opinion, they along with Argentina produced the highest quality of play.

On top of that, they are both young teams, just like the German side that finished third, and Ghana. That is a good sign.

You spoke about the level of play. On that point specifically, what did you take from the tournament?

Football a strategic game

I did really see some great things. Football has become such a strategic game, with teams moving as a unit. It can be an impressive sight. gone are the days of simple tactics where one attacked then defended. But in the first few matches of the group stage in South Africa, we witnessed some teams that went out to avoid defeat, were playing for a draw from the outset. This is a topic that I would like to discuss at upcoming Football and Technical Committee meetings. We have to try to find a way to encourage free-flowing football tournaments like the World Cup, with teams playing to win. We plan to take the opportunity to look at the concept of extra-time as well.

Often we see teams set themselves up even more defensively during extra- time, in an attempt to avoid conceding a goal at all costs. To prevent this, we could go directly to a penalty shoot-out at full time, or reintroduce the golden goal rule. We will wait and see what emerges from the committee meetings.