Qatar. A third world country in the middle east has been chosen to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Out of the four other countries to chose from, (Japan, Australia, USA, and South Korea), surprisingly, Qatar was chosen. Japan, South Korea and the United States have all previously hosted the World Cup while neither Qatar nor Australia have.The interesting part about this whole deal is not only that this will be the first World Cup ever to take place in the Middle East, but that, as stated by the Telegraph, Jack Warner, a senior Fifa official, and his family were paid almost $2 million (£1.2m) from a Qatari firm linked to the country’s successful bid for the 2022 World Cup only days after Qatar was chosen as the host country (Newell). Jack Warner also soon resigned his position as FIFA Vice-President. Although it would be nice to host a World Cup in a growing country located in the middle east such as Qatar, there are many things to consider in order to host the best world cup possible such as the atmosphere for the fans, the safety of the workers and the actual building of the stadiums, and the timing of the World Cup may cause a lot of problems for the players that will participate in the tournament.
Human Rights in Qatar
Many people have agreed with me, such as the people at Amnesty International, in that Qatar is a country with many social and political taboos that could prove dangerous to the tourists going to the World Cup. In 2013, the Taliban opened up an office in Qatar in order to show that “the Taliban are no longer only a fighting group, but have a political arm too” (“Q&A: Taliban Open Doha Office.”). My concern here is that the word “Taliban” has a negative connotation to many people not familiar with all of their history as a fundamentalist Islamic militia. Qatar just recently started being more lenient and relaxed with a lot of basic human rights but it still has many extremist movements and ideologies, especially in regards to women’s rights. The dominating Islamic religion has some very extremist supporters, most famously Al-Qaeda, which could cause problems or concerns to the traveling tourist or supporters of the featured teams in the 2022 World Cup. Also the issue of homosexuality has been raised multiple times by the fans and the LGBT groups. In Qatar homosexuality is illegal, period.
Piara Powar, the director of Football Against Racism in Europe stated in October of 2013 that “These are issues of civil rights, fans and players of all races, religions and sexuality need to feel comfortable going to the World Cups in both Russia and Qatar. It is going to be quite a challenge but we have to make sure that football becomes the vehicle for social change that we claim it is. This is a big issue.”
Recently Russia hosted the 2014 Winter Olympics and had no reports concerning gay rights, even though that was one of the biggest controversies leading up to the 2014 Olympics. Qatar may or may not have the same issues once the World Cup starts since they have about 8 years ‘till the World Cup starts. In the up and growing country of Qatar it is illegal to be seen consuming alcohol in public. Thus the atmosphere at the games will be harmed by the lack of beer which is one of the bestsellers at the games and helps contribute the unique atmosphere that only soccer games have.
Qatar World Cup Stadiums Putting Migrant Workers in Danger
My second reason is the stadiums that are being built and that many of the foreign workers currently taking part in the construction of the stadiums are in danger. What I mean by danger is that once they are in Qatar, they have their passports confiscated and it is also estimated that by the end of all of this, the construction and everything concerned with the preparation of the 2022 World Cup, there will be an estimated 4,000 migrant workers dead. That averages out to 12 workers a week. 44 Nepalese workers have died between June and August of 2013. Also the city where the final of the World Cup will be does not even exist yet! There is even more appalling data that only contributes to the cause of the abused workers suffering in the slavelike conditions. Amnesty international reports that there are some 1.35 million foreign nationals working in Qatar. These 1.35 million workers now make up about 94% of Qatar’s workforce. Even more interesting is that of all the workers, 90% had their passports held by their employers, 56% did not have a government health card, essential to access public hospitals, 21% “sometimes, rarely or never” received their salary on time, 20% got a different salary than had been promised, and last of all 15% worked in a different job to the one promised. These alarming statistics make one shocked to what some countries resort to in order to achieve a bigger profit. and the 90% of the workers without passport is one of the most interesting points stated by Amnesty International. This is because without a passport, you cannot travel, and if you cannot travel then you are forced to work and finish the job and just hope and pray that your employer will return it to you. If not one could be in danger of becoming one of the predicted 4,000 workers to die if there are no changes in the handling of the workers.
Timing of a Qatar World Cup
My third reason is the timing. What I mean by this is that the Qatari and FIFA officials have tried to officially move the Qatar World Cup from the European Summer to the European winter. This is one of the biggest concerns not only for the fans but also for the players. One of the reasons for this movement away from Qatar is the sweltering Qatari heat that takes place during the summer is a massive safety hazard for any fan, player, or worker. Secretary General Jerome Valcke has relayed to Radio France that “the dates for the World Cup (in Qatar) will not be June to July. To be honest, I think it will be held between November 15 and January 15 at the latest.
If you play between November 15 and the end of December that’s the time when the weather conditions are best, when you can play in temperatures equivalent to a warm spring season in Europe, averaging 25 degrees (Celsius). That would be perfect for playing football.” The fact that he said that it would be “equivalent to a warm spring” is still worrying since it is the winter. Yes, it would be great weather for soccer but that is not the only reason for why it is such a big deal. In the a soccer year for the typical professional player in Europe consists of playing from August to November/December-then there is a Christmas break and the season resumes again in January and ends in May. Most of these players play on team that play around 30 games on each side of the Christmas break and the last thing that these players would want is to play during the break and risk fatigue, either mental or physical, and not be able to finish out the regular season with their club teams . This also means that the transfer window (a period where teams are allowed to sell or buy players) would lose its value and it would have to change dates as well since it is normally during the winter season as well. If the dates of the games are changed then they would also have to shorten the pre-season and could also lead to more injuries if the players don’t have time to rest. How can a group (FIFA) where the president, Sepp Blatter an ex-soccer player, allow the World Cup to change dates when he himself knows what it is like to experience injuries and fatigue in his own soccer career?
Qatar may be one of the richest countries in the world but with the possible extreme heat, probable fatigue for the players, dire and dangerous working conditions many workers have and will take part in building the glorious stadiums and the many issues in its culture that many of the fans may not used to, will deter fans from going and will most likely make the 2022 World Cup a failure when compared to World Cups of the past. Of course there are many other options to host the World Cup with already built stadiums and a great yet safe infrastructure that will provide a galvanizing atmosphere for fans of any country such as the United States or England. If there are already stadiums built and ready for hosting an event of such a magnitude, then why are we allowing FIFA to continue with the World Cup in Qatar that is only putting more workers and people in danger and could prove more costly than benefiting for all the parties involved.
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