The 2022
World Cup will be held in Qatar FIFA confirmed last week, opening the door for
the competition to be played in November-December. But, are Qatar the right
host?
The small
country with all the oil was chosen as hosts for the World Cup in 2022 three
years ago, and critics have been shouting at FIFA ever since. However, now it
is for real; Qatar will host the 2022 World Cup and there is nothing to do
about it.
Critics
says Qatar bought the World Cup, and given FIFA’s history of corruption this
could very well be true. Fact is that some of the people voting on the Arab
state have been removed from their position in FIFA as a result of corruption
regarding other cases. Furthermore, FIFA have launched their own investigation
of the Qatar-bid to find out if money was involved in the voting.
FIFA
President Sepp Blatter denies every talk of corruption in his organisation and
claims that political pressure from the European countries had an impact on the
choice of Qatar. According to Blatter, different countries Ministers have asked
their FIFA officials to vote for Qatar for economic reasons. Surprisingly, none
of the European countries have been criticising Qatar for their way of treating
the millions of workers building the stadiums for the World Cup.
This brings
us on to a far worse problem with hosting the World Cup in Qatar. Reports from
the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) tell that millions of
workers in Qatar are treated as slaves and that guest workers have no rights.
Furthermore, they are promised a safe work and great pay when they leave their
home country, but as soon as they enter Qatar their passports are taken from
them and they are forced to work from early morning to late evening. ITUC have
asked Sepp Blatter to do something about it, but so far nothing has happened
despite the President have promised to talk with Al-Thari, the royal family.
From the
football point of view, a World Cup in Qatar during the summer will mean that
matches have to be played in 40-50 degrees heat. This is not acceptable for the
players, fans or officials and Blatter have already admitted that it might have
been a mistake to hold the world’s biggest sport event in the country. However,
he keeps determined to play the World Cup in the winter months so Qatar can
stay as hosts. This will be a problem for some of the biggest leagues in
Europe, and both the English Premier League, the French Ligue 1, the German
Bundesliga and the Italian Serie A have denied that they can accept a winter
tournament. This could result in national teams full of reserves, should the 4
leagues decided to keep playing during the World Cup. Well, it opens the door
for Qatar to win the World Cup.
When it
comes to it, the Arab state should never have been giving the World Cup. A
country that might have bought their way to the host role and at the same time
violates several human rights, should never have the chance of hosting such a
significant event. Given the weather conditions in the country, FIFA should
never have considered Qatar as a host and at the moment things are just getting
worse. Challenging some of the biggest leagues in the world is not the way to
make football fans accept FIFA’s choice, and I think most of us are hoping for
a miracle. A miracle that will take the World Cup to a better place.
Former FIFA official received $1.2m after World Cup bid according to a newspaper report. The money came from a company controlled by former Asian Football Confederation president Mohamed Bin Hammam. 
