Worst opening World Cup game ever? Almost certainly. Worst host side ever? Quite possibly. Worst World Cup host ever? That’s a lot more questionable. There is an argument that Qatar is not even in the top three when it comes to the worst World Cup hosts.
For all the entirely legitimate criticism of Qatar 2022, ranging from its appalling treatment of migrant workers to its anti-LGBTQ+ legislation to its last-minute beer ban, there have still been far worse host nations for the World Cup. Here are three for starters, in reverse order.
Qatar Is Not The Worst World Cup Host Nation
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Putin’s Russia in 2018
In the run-up to the start of Qatar 2022, there have been numerous flashbacks to the last World Cup, which of course was hosted by Russia. Russia may be the world’s pariah now for invading Ukraine, but less than five years ago it was playing host to the world’s biggest sporting event and rather than the Emir of Qatar it was Vladimir Putin smiling and glad-handing FIFA officials at the opening ceremony.
Of course, Russia had already invaded Ukraine before the last World Cup started when it annexed Crimea. That entirely illegal operation had actually taken place in the spring of 2014, long before the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, so the world and FIFA had plenty of time to respond to it. Instead, Ukraine complained, arguing that Russia should not just be stripped of hosting rights but banned from the World Cup altogether, but nothing happened and Russia hosted a largely successful tournament, whatever the moral (and military) qualms about the host nation.
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For many people, the single worst abuse by Qatar 2022 and the biggest reason to criticise the tournament or even boycott it is its treatment of migrant workers. The Guardian estimated in 2021 that as many as 6,500 migrant workers had died in Qatar since the country won the right to host the World Cup in 2010 and began building the necessary stadia and other infrastructure.
Nevertheless, however terrible the loss of life has been in the lead-up to Qatar 2022, it is worth remembering that Russia’s invasions of Ukraine have been even more costly. Although the annexation of Crimea in 2014 was not met with much Ukrainian resistance with only six deaths being officially recorded, that first “military operation” paved the way for the much larger Russian invasion of Ukraine this year. To date, it is estimated that nearly 15,000 soldiers and civilians on both sides have been killed.
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Mussolini’s Italy in 1934
Of course, Putin is not the first dictator to try to use the World Cup as a propaganda exercise or a screen for their wrongdoing. Nearly a century earlier, Italy’s fascist leader Benito Mussolini had used his country’s hosting of the World Cup as a unique opportunity to promote fascism around the world.
Mussolini had already been in complete control of Italy for a decade, during which time he had attempted to silence all opposition to his authoritarian rule, when FIFA awarded Italy the right to host the World Cup in October 1932. It was the first World Cup in Europe, and Italy was chosen ahead of the far less controversial option of Sweden. There were absentees from the tournament but they stayed away on footballing grounds rather than political ones. Most notably, Uruguay, who had hosted and won the inaugural World Cup in 1930, refused to travel to Italy to defend their title, in protest at the European nations that had refused to travel to South America for their tournament four years earlier.
Another notable absentee was England, which at the time was so confident of its superiority to foreign footballing nations that it did not even bother to enter the official world championship. However, after Mussolini’s Italy won the World Cup in the summer of 1934, there was considerable clamour, both in England and Italy, for a match between the two nations to determine which one was really the world’s best. In the infamous Battle of Highbury in November 1934, an England team featuring seven players from champions Arsenal and playing at Arsenal’s home ground of Highbury won an extremely fractious match 3-2. Afterwards, many Gunners fans claimed that the best team in the world was neither Italy nor England, but Arsenal.
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1. The Junta’s Argentina in 1978
Notwithstanding the rival claims of Vladimir Putin and Benito Mussolini, the title of “The Worst World Cup Hosts Ever” must go to Argentina in 1978, when the military junta government that had seized control of the country two years earlier oversaw Argentina’s first-ever World Cup win. That win on home soil came against the spectacular backdrop of seemingly perpetual blue-and-white ticker tape cascades, which is the first World Cup memory for many. All that tape covered up a multitude of sins.
Argentina ’78 wins the unwanted title of “Worst World Cup Host Ever” for two reasons. The first is that, just like Putin’s Russia and Mussolini’s Italy, Argentina’s World Cup in 1978 was a huge propaganda exercise. In Argentina’s case, it wasn’t just foreign invasions or fascist dictatorships that were being washed away. It was actual blood, that of political prisoners, some of whom were even tortured and killed in the same stadia that would go on to be used at the World Cup in 1978.
The second reason is that, unlike Putin’s Russia and Mussolini’s Italy, there is considerable evidence that Argentina’s junta were so desperate to use the World Cup for their own nefarious ends that they even cheated on the field to secure victory. In the first instance, Argentina played all its opening group matches later than its opponents, so that it knew the exact score-line that it required to qualify.
Far more controversially, in the last second-round group match between Argentina and Peru (there were no semi-finals in 1978 and instead the second-round group winners went straight through to the final) Argentina had to win by at least four goals to reach the final ahead of arch-rivals Brazil. Against a resolute Peru side, that seemed unlikely, but Argentina ended up scoring six and qualifying for the final easily. Even today, allegations persist in South America that Argentina’s junta bribed the Peruvian Government to persuade their team to throw the game in return for huge grain shipments or secretive bank payments.
All the controversy surrounding the mysterious disallowing of Ecuador’s opening “goal” against Qatar in the 2022 World Cup opening game pales into insignificance compared to the accusation that in 1978 Argentina actually bought the World Cup final, and pales even further against the lives of political dissidents.
Last Word on Football recognise Qatar’s human rights abuses and instances of corruption taking place throughout the nation and in the background of the World Cup. Learn more about some of the issues surrounding the World Cup here.
