If you have been present in social media, the news or general conversation regarding the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, you will be aware of the controversy and outright corruption surrounding the competition this year. Along with the Olympics, the FIFA World Cup holds the trophy for the most watched international sporting event, and it pledges to unite countries, fans and teams from across the globe. However, I would say this year’s tournament has never been so divisive.
Take the England squad for example. After being permitted to wear ‘One Love’ armbands during their matches in support of the LGBTQ+ community, FIFA made a last-minute U-Turn and threatened to book players if they chose to wear the armbands. In Qatar, homosexuality is a crime, punishable by imprisonment and even death in some cases. By FIFA allowing a country with such strong discriminatory views to host the World Cup- a competition traditionally and supposedly characterised by unity and inclusion- they show how the game has become dictated by money, and not by fairness and honesty.
In 2010, after it was announced that Qatar would be hosting the 2022 tournament, former FIFA president Sepp Blatter said FIFA wants to ‘open this game to everybody, and to open it to all cultures’. However, following recent events, it seems that the exact opposite is happening here.
How are gay football fans and visitors supposed to feel safe arriving in a country in which their sexuality is punishable by death and their human rights shockingly poor?
As well as the LGBTQ+ community, women in Qatar also lack basic human rights and are considered as inferior to their male counterparts. In order to travel, work, go into higher education, drive or even make decisions about their own children, a man’s permission is required. Again, this doesn’t pair well with FIFA’s goals to combat discrimination and ‘protect human rights’. The hypocrisy is as clear as day. In recent years, huge strides have been made in the women’s game. We watched as England’s lionesses triumphed at the 2022 Euros, media-coverage of women’s fixtures is at an all-time high and more women and young girls are playing football than ever before. FIFA even vowed in their 2020-2023 goals to push women’s football, aiming to increase its commercial value and enhance opportunities for women in the game.
So what does hosting the Men’s World Cup in Qatar, a country which generally views women as lesser to men, do for the growth and development of women’s football? For FIFA, as a highly regarded and ‘honest’ association- not much at all. It’s hard to rely on their promises to improve football- for both sexes, all ethnicities, sexualities and cultures- when they agree to provide a country of serious conflicting values with a huge platform and plenty of money. It doesn’t sit right with many people, including myself. Some fans, players and members of the public are suffering as a result of this corrupt decision, and it feels like we have taken several steps back in time. It is an indisputable fact that FIFA has a tainted and corrupt past, and it seems as if they did not take the implications for their reputation and image into consideration.
Did they see past the dollar signs dangling in front of their faces? Did they ponder on the social issues that would appear at the surface after their fateful decision? Or do they just not care about inclusivity, unity and the women’s game at all?
Written by: Tilly Milsome
Edited by: Madeleine Rousell