World Cup politics

PHOTO: A group of Davis High seniors celebrates the world cup final match enthusiastically.

By Lily Schroeder,

BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–

Players from all over the world traveled to Qatar this winter for the 2022 Men’s World Cup, despite concerns over Qatar’s ability to host the tournament. Even so, a lack of infrastructure and a disregard for human rights were not held against Qatar, and the cup continued as scheduled.

Although the World Cup is supposed to be a time when countries come together to celebrate the most popular sport in the world, this year the tournament was clouded by international politics and discussions of human rights.

The process of picking a host country for the World Cup is through a random ballot system. 10 years ago, Qatar was chosen to host in 2022 despite not having the necessary infrastructure, according to a 2017 report by Cornerstone Global.

Since then, Qatar has spent an estimated $220 billion on the World Cup, over 10 times more than Russia spent on the 2018 World Cup. This money has mostly been put towards building seven new stadiums, new public transportation, and a new city to host the final.

With a major increase in construction projects, Qatar used migrant workers from surrounding countries for these jobs. Not only due to construction but also unhealthy living and work conditions, many migrant workers died in the 12 years between the announcement of Qatar hosting the World Cup and the start this past November.

The official number of deaths of migrant workers released by Qatar was 40, though in an interview with British TV host Piers Morgan, Qatar World Cup Chief Hassan Al-Thawadi estimated that the number was really between 400 and 500.

The political situation in Qatar has only hurt migrant workers. In June 2017, countries in the Persian Gulf banned Qatar from using their airspace or sea routes because of Qatar’s alleged support of terrorism. Though this conflict was resolved in January 2021, many construction projects were set back because of this.

“Many think that Qatar’s politics mean that they are unfit to host, but I don’t mind as long as the politics don’t affect the game,” varsity soccer player Grace Fabionar said.

Yet, Qatar’s laws, specifically their criminalization of same-sex relationships, did affect the tournament play. Multiple countries in the World Cup have partnerships with One Love, an organization that advocates against discrimination, and their captains wear armbands with a rainbow pattern on them to display the partnership.

Although the armbands did not have any pride flag on them, captains were prevented from wearing the armbands. Many felt that this demonstrated FIFA’s lack of regard for Queer people, especially after choosing Qatar to host despite knowing about their homophobic laws.

Despite the problems facing women in Qatar, this was the first World Cup where the American women’s national soccer team profited off the men’s world cup. The women made $13 million from the men’s team making it to the round of 16.

“What is interesting to me is how just by earning half of the men’s reward the women are receiving more money than they got when winning,” Fabionar said.

Despite problems with the 2022 World Cup, it was monumental in the tournament’s history. Morocco set a new record as the first African country to make it to the semi-finals.

To give more countries the chance to break records like this, FIFA will be adding 16 new teams to the next World Cup in 2026 which will be hosted across North America. 

“I like the idea of FIFA adding more teams, it gives a greater amount of countries an opportunity to play,” Fabionar said.