The new executive secretary of the Juntos 2030 Corporation addresses the various aspects of the candidacy for the planetary event as well as the invitation of President Alberto Fernández to Bolivia. “It wasn’t even on the table, nor was it a topic in the conversation that followed,” he says.
For many years, Michael Boys was one of the most important representatives that Chile had at the international level of football. His extensive experience working on events for FIFA is a solid cover letter, which is why was requested by Juntos 2030 Corporation to take charge of the Executive Secretariat from the application to the World Cup which will take place in seven years.
“The history of this postulation is quite long. It was born from an idea of Sebastián Bauzá and members of his Board of Directors of the Uruguayan Football Association in 2009 or 2010. , and they were there with this dream which, little by little, took shape over the years. With the various governments and federative administrations and the very evolution of the world cups, including the fact that they have opened up to their execution in other territories, it has taken shape and aligned itself with the possibility of concretizing this application”, explains the journalist, now based in Santiago.
The sports manager knew the candidacy well, since he had already been advising it for some time. “I have officially helped the Chilean team through the Ministry of Sports and the Football Federation since 2019. Later this was suspended due to the effects of the pandemic and resumed last year, with much more force, with more structure, and there we worked very intensively to establish the statutes of the society, which ended up being registered and approved at the end of last year; by providing the application with a budget and by gradually integrating the different levels of this corporation, such as governments and federations,” he says.
What was unanimous in your appointment and what will be your first mission in this new position?
It was unanimous because it began to be discussed in recent weeks and basically there was a work team beyond me, it is the national coordinators who are also an integral part of the Executive Secretariat and whose mission is to organize and order that the needs be transferred to each country. The first task is some formal aspects that must be done now: RUT, current account to manage the company… Then, the establishment of a series of working groups. There are two that have been described to be the first to be installed, which are ethics and account review. And later, with the requirements of FIFA in hand, it is the various work teams that must, worth the redundancy, work to develop the common value proposition of the four countries.
The Argentine president announced that he wanted to invite Bolivia. Is it doable?
We found out at the end of the meeting. It wasn’t on the editing table. You know that once the corporation is formalized, its meetings, its assemblies, function by thematic table. Therefore, it wasn’t even on the table, nor was it a topic in the ensuing conversation. This is a consortium already formed between the four governments and the four federations. Consequently, any reflection of this type should be formalized so that it is submitted to the analysis of the Assembly and of the Board of Directors in particular.
So, would Bolivia have a chance of joining?
I couldn’t tell you, because it’s not something formal. From an operational point of view, the Secretariat or the organization cannot support something that is not formally requested by one of its members.
And from a technical point of view, what is the viability of a five-country bid?
This also cannot be said until we have the requirements of FIFA for the organization of this event.
Are some stages of the World Cup already defined?
There is an idea that the opening is in Buenos Aires and the final in Montevideo. For now, and until the end, it will be an idea and possibly a proposal, but the final decision is made by FIFA. If you look at the process that the World Cup went through in the United States, Canada and Mexico, which featured many venues that were eventually narrowed down to the 16 that are going to be used for the tournament, they ended up being selected by FIFA and, later, the designation of matches is also a power of FIFA, which is carried out jointly and according to the criteria established with the local organizing committee. This is different from the entity we have formed now, whose sole purpose is to carry out the application. This has nothing to do with the organization of the event itself, because for that you must first win.
In the Chilean case, the Minister mentioned some host cities. What is the idea behind this postulation?
This is still paramount, as the FIFA requirements are not yet in place. As a result, it is difficult to know the conditions that will be required, not only for the stadium, but also for the airport, hotels, transport, services… So, before going to select a place, you have to know what are the requirements. And it is also very important that the communities also express their interest. I imagine that in Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay there will be cities, beyond the capitals, that will be ready to campaign to host World Cup matches. This has a very important impact on the alignment of the objectives of cities, regions and communities, and there are a series of positive externalities.
Faced with the economic instability that has always affected the region, what is the plan to anticipate this?
Economic instability is a global reality today. The whole world is going through a complex period, which leads to a reflection that the major sports organizations have carried out even before the crisis of the coronavirus pandemic and which has to do with the sustainability of these events. After Qatar, the World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada is going to be a completely different animal, with most of the existing infrastructure that will be adapted and with a totally different value proposition to that of Qatar, which has built stadiums, most of them removable. And if you go to the Olympics, they decided not to continue with these applications and signed a contract with the Gold Coast in Australia 12 years in advance to do a joint development program. All of this speaks to the fact that sustainability in the broad sense of the word is a duty of large organizations, and this is very much in line with the value proposition that we are structuring here in the region.
Are there defined axes of this value proposition?
Some axes are already clear, such as sustainability; the story; The weight and social influence that football has in the region is obviously very relevant to highlight it and without a doubt having the world champions in the region is an incentive and an excellent motivation letter for the candidacy.
And from the economic point of view it has not yet been defined?
It is that the economic value is also something that you will have to structure according to the requirements that are made of you. I’ll give you an example: in the United States, the stadiums are going to be very large, with a large capacity, and this large capacity means more revenue from ticket sales, but you have to make sure that those tickets are sold, which has been a challenge in previous world cups. If you are wondering about the world cups in our region, selling tickets is probably not a big challenge, because the passion for football and the interest in following an event like this is such that the world cup everyone would have guaranteed full stadiums in our region. region. How that financial value proposition is made will depend on when we have the context on the table and what we can offer FIFA and voters.
How important is your experience working in FIFA events? Do you think this can influence?
No. Influence, none. I don’t aspire to have it either, I just aspire to pass on that experience of 10-12 years working on events with FIFA. And, by the way, I am not the only one in the task force and in the region to have this experience. It is in our interest to add them so that they bring this perspective and this interaction with FIFA. Obviously, what is very useful is to transfer the concepts that FIFA delivers into reality, in order to be able to anticipate certain scenarios. We know some requirements that will come, some things that are immeasurable, others that can be improved, optimized, where is the focus that FIFA wants… But influence, no. It’s not something I can have or anyone can have, because the rules of this app are very clear, with very high ethical standards. And this is the field on which we want to play.
What is Chile’s greatest advantage or attribute in this bid?
More than an advantage, Chile complements itself very well with the rest. And one of the very interesting aspects of this candidacy is that the countries complement each other very well. It is a question of seeing how the board of directors was formed, where Chile ended up with the treasury, which fulfills a role of operationalization and execution. There is a lot of experience gained and the Pan American Games are very relevant in this regard.
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Source: Latercera
I’m Scott Moore, a professional writer and journalist based in the US. I’ve been writing for various publications for over 8 years now, and have been working as an author at athletistic for the past five years. My work has been featured by some of the leading sports websites and magazines across Europe.
