Can Malaysia host the World Cup?

ON June 11, 2010, South Africa made history when it became the first African nation to host the FIFA World Cup.

Similarly, in 2002, Japan and South Korea also made it into the history books when they co-hosted the tournament.

Prior to 2002, the World Cup was only hosted in either Europe or South America.

However, countries from other continents have been eager to hop on the bandwagon to host the prestigious event, and it’s not difficult to see why.

Occuring only once in four years, the World Cup is the most widely-viewed sporting event in the world. According to FIFA (football’s global governing body), an estimated 715.1 million people watched the final match of the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

As a football fan that switches on every four years, I can’t help but wonder – can a country like Malaysia host a major event like the World Cup?

Given its scale, hosting an event like the World Cup can be an extremely costly affair. Expenditure would mostly be for construction and upgrades of stadiums and infrastructure, accommodation, transportation, on-ground promotions and security.

According to a paper by Korean World Cup Organising Committee co-chairman Lee Yun-Taek, South Korea had built 10 new stadiums at an approximate cost of US$2bil (RM6.4bil) in preparation for the 2002 finals.

Total costs including construction, organising committee budget and other expenditure were estimated at US$2.67bil (RM8.54bil).

According to a report by the BBC in May, South Africa was estimated to have spent £3.5bil (RM17.2bil) on building and redeveloping 10 stadiums, creating a new transport infrastructure and security to host this year’s event.

Unlike South Korea, South Africa has never had any experience in hosting a major sporting tournament, which probably explains the higher cost of organising a major sporting event.

South Korea hosted the Olympics in 1988, another sports event that occurs once in four years.

According to FIFA guidelines, around 12 stadiums with a minimum capacity of 40,000 are needed to host the tournament. The stadium for the final will need to have at least 80,000 seats.

Its website, worldstadiums.com, lists that Malaysia has at least eight stadiums with a capacity of 40,000 and above.

The Bukit Jalil Stadium in Kuala Lumpur has a maximum capacity of 100,200.

This means Malaysia would need to upgrade just four more stadiums, which it has ample supply of. There are six stadiums with a capacity of at least 30,000 and above, according to worldstadiums.com.

To minimise costs further, it could go the Japan/South Korea route by co-hosting the event with a neighbouring country. However, this would mean any profits attained during the event were also likely to be halved.

Malaysia is no stranger to hosting global events. To date, the biggest sporting event it has organised was the 16th Commonwealth Games in 1998, which saw 70 competing nations.

In terms of returns for hosting the World Cup, firstly, there will be direct revenue from ticket sales.

For Germany in 2006, there were 3.2 million tickets available for the 64 matches (minus seats for VIP guests and the media), ranging from 35 euro to 600 euro.

On top of that, millions of ringgit from tourists will be injected into various businesses, hotels, food and beverage outlets, souvenir stores, tours and transport from hosting the month-long event.

The return on investment for the construction of new stadiums, other infrastructure or new modes of public transportation also does not stop once the World Cup ends.

Organisers can continue to host events at their (new or upgraded) stadiums, which should accommodate larger crowds (long after the World Cup.)

New modes of transport, which were not available initially (and created specifically for an event like the World Cup), can continue to be utilised after the tournament is over by commuters.

In February, Bloomberg reported that the South African World Cup Committee had predicted that the country’s gross domestic product would receive a 0.5% boost this year an as estimated 450,000 visitors flock to South Africa for the world’s most-watched tournament.

More than 130,000 jobs were also created in the construction of the stadiums between 2007 and 2010 in South Africa.

Hosting the World Cup is also a great image-booster for the organising nation. It creates heightened awareness and can build both local and investor confidence in the country.

Lee noted in his paper that (despite other factors coming into play) when France hosted the World Cup in 1998, the French stock market doubled in two years.

Similarly, when Seoul hosted the 1988 Olympics, its stock market doubled in less than 16 months.

Personally, however, the main reason that I would like to see Malaysia host the World Cup is that it allows the host nation to get a free entry into the tournament!

● The writer knows that watching the World Cup in high-definition doesn’t come close to watching it live in the flesh.


Eugene Mahalingam
thestar.com.my