Double edge to a Thai World Cup bid

It was a relatively small item in the sports news a few days ago, but soon enough, it might not be. Thailand’s ambition to host football’s World Cup in 2034 looks serious enough to warrant both cautious praise and alarm bells. 
The upsides of the idea are obvious. A Cup-hosting gig would be a short cut to getting our team in the topmost tournament of the world’s most popular sport. It would be a tremendous boost for tourism. And it would certainly enhance the Kingdom’s international profile. The downside is that the quadrennial selection of the host nation is a process plagued by corruption – and Thailand doesn’t need to see more of that.
Stadium requirements alone would force Thailand to find at least one hosting-partner among its Southeast Asian neighbours. Indonesia has expressed interest after Malaysia’s enthusiasm cooled. Co-hosting has worked successfully before, when Japan and South Korea jointly staged the 2002 World Cup. One likely opponent of Thailand and Indonesia seeking to play joint host in 2034 is China, which is expected to lose in its bid for the 2030 Cup and, if so, would almost certainly try again for the tournament to follow four years hence.
Meanwhile the list of past Cup hosts shows that Fifa’s selections have followed a “looping pattern” – countries on the same continent are not chosen consecutively. Proponents of a Thai bid point out that, if we skip the 2034 opportunity, we’d have to wait eight years for another chance. 
On top of trying to counter China’s mighty rivalry (and remember: the Beijing Olympics were a resounding success), Fifa rules and preferences concerning budget, transport, facilities and public opinion give the Thailand-Indonesia application little hope. 
There are other concerns, too. The world governing body of football has been beset with one scandal after another, some of them related to selecting World Cup hosts. High-ranking officials in Thai football have faced accusations of irregularities as well. In fact, just days ago, Thailand featured in a damning Fifa report concerning the 2018 World Cup. The report called a planned England-Thailand friendly match here, aimed at winning support for England’s bid to host the 2018 Cup, “a form of bribery”. News and gossip suggest that this sort of scheming is common among hopeful Cup hosts, but far more outrageous examples of bribery exist, often involving vast sums of money.
Thailand’s terrible reputation for corruption and the risks of massive graft that strew the selection process for World Cup hosts demonstrate that a bid to co-host the 2034 tournament would be highly susceptible to irregularities, criminal and otherwise. Loopholes in the regulations are rife enough that illegalities and violations of ethics would be difficult if not impossible to curtail.
Is it possible that Thai society might reach a high enough level of ethical maturity in coming years to justify a bid for the 2034 World Cup? The eyes of the world will be on us, as well as the glaring scrutiny of our rivals for the hosting privileges. To be able to co-host the event would bring diplomatic glory, but the risk of global shame and embarrassment is too horrifying to contemplate.