Minister Dreams of FIFA World Cup in Baltics: First Must Build Stadium, Then Find Football Players

While Riga is still trying to figure out why their football stadium looks like a big concrete bag with holes, the Ministry of Economics is already planning to host the FIFA World Cup together with Ukraine and all the Baltic states. Minister Viktors Valainis, apparently inspired by successful dreams about a national stadium, has decided it's time to think even bigger.

The ministry announced that a visit to Ukraine is planned for April to discuss cooperation possibilities. "We need to think ambitiously," says Valainis, and it must be admitted — it's hard to imagine anything more ambitious than a country whose national football team last played in the World Cup never, wanting to host this very tournament. It's like the Liepāja tram dreaming of a metro line — beautiful, but slightly unrealistic.

"First we need a national-scale stadium," the minister points out, and here it must be said — the man is right. Currently the only stadium that could claim such status is located in Riga and looks as if the architect was drawing with closed eyes. While other countries plan where to put all those millions that FIFA pays for hosting rights, we're still planning where to put the stadium itself.

Local football expert Jānis Kalniņš comments: "Well yes, good that we're thinking about the future. Only maybe we could first learn to beat at least Andorra?" Meanwhile FIFA, which in recent years organizes championships for 48 teams, will probably be delighted by the idea of hosting a tournament in a region that together has fewer inhabitants than one London neighborhood.