Every four years, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, better known as FIFA, holds the largest soccer tournament in the world. The World Cup brings people from around the globe together to cheer on their countries in a rare instance of harmless patriotism. Excitement for the tournament builds for years as qualification for the 32-team competition starts three years before the first game.
Nevertheless, one team is guaranteed entry into each tournament: the host nation. This gives smaller countries — like this year’s host, Qatar — the opportunity to compete on the biggest stage in soccer. Rotating host nations may attract new viewers from countries where soccer is not as popular, introducing more fans to the beautiful game. Also, holding a tournament in the host nation without the country’s team just serves to rub salt in the wound.
Hosting the World Cup is much more than a morale booster or a gratifying hobby for the host country; the tournament increases tourism across the nation and creates jobs, as stadium workers and event facilitators are needed for preparation. Qatar is expected to make $19 billion from the 2022 World Cup. Notwithstanding, the economic incentives also make the tournament a hotbed for shady activity by FIFA and the host nation.
A handful of countries place a bid to host the World Cup, and the winner is determined by a majority vote in the FIFA Congress. For the 2022 tournament, the United States, Australia, Japan, South Korea and Qatar all placed eligible bids. The notorious ex-FIFA president, Sepp Blatter, announced Qatar as the winner in 2010, and, by his own admission, it has been a disaster.
Among the bidding countries, Qatar was easily the least equipped to host such a major tournament. For one, the World Cup is traditionally played from June to July, but Qatar’s temperatures can reach up to 120 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer, which would create an unsafe environment for the athletes. In response, the tournament was moved to the winter — a disservice to both fans and players.
But the temperature turned out to be the least worrying concern surrounding the Qatari World Cup. As the smallest host country in the tournament’s history, with limited experience in competitive soccer, Qatar set out to build eight brand new stadiums in a span of only 10 years. In search of extra labor, the country turned to migrant workers, who make up 90% of Qatar’s workforce. Even more workers were recruited from India and other nearby nations to prepare for the tournament.
Workers were forced to live in filth for months on end while building the stadiums, all without any guarantee of receiving the salary they were promised. Workers have since spoken out about the horrifying conditions they endured during this decade, further solidifying Qatar’s existing reputation for abusing its laborers. Qatar already had a history of human rights violations before the tournament — and a history of covering them up.
Both FIFA and the Qatari government claim that “only” three workers have died while building the infrastructure needed for the World Cup despite ample evidence implying otherwise. The actual number of deaths is around 6,500, but it may be even higher. Due to the structure of the Qatari government, which is known to push whichever narrative makes itself look best, there is no way to calculate the true number of lives lost.
As the largest exporter of natural gas, Qatar is home to some of the richest people in the world. But their vast fortunes do not reflect the state of the rest of the country’s economy or the conditions that its workforce must endure. With one of the highest income inequalities of any nation, Qatari leaders are generally considered unethical, and many people believe they should not be rewarded with the opportunity to host the World Cup.
Alongside Qatar, FIFA has been plagued by corruption in the past decade. Scandal peaked in 2015 when seven FIFA officials were arrested over allegations of racketeering, money laundering and wire fraud. So, when Blatter announced Qatar as the 2022 host five years prior, controversy was bound to follow.
FIFA is the largest soccer organization in the world. In many ways, they run a monopoly over the sport, especially on the international level. While there are some significant rival tournaments, such as UEFA, which runs the Euro Cup, and CONMEBOL, which runs the Copa America, FIFA’s World Cup easily outperforms the smaller tournaments in viewership and interest.
The fact that FIFA, or any elitist group for that matter, is corrupt should not be a surprise. However, there needs to be some form of sanction placed on the organization to prevent it from picking a host country strictly based on profit incentives without considering the external issues that may arise.
While many corrupt FIFA officials were arrested following the 2015 scandals, causing Blatter to fearfully resign, the true power to stop the organization’s shady antics comes from the fans. With an event as popular as the World Cup, boycotting is probably not a popular solution. But it may be the only option to prevent further disasters like the 2022 tournament. Fans drive the profit for FIFA. So, if a large portion of the fanbase doesn’t watch the broadcasts or attend the matches when a host nation uses immoral means in the buildup, FIFA’s profits will plummet, forcing them to reconsider their choice of host country.
However, some countries, like Qatar, seem to have an infinite supply of money. So much, in fact, that they would likely be able to profit without any contributions from fans. That’s why a financial boycott must be accompanied by severe public backlash. The name of FIFA should be dragged through the mud and neglected just as migrant workers have been dehumanized and disregarded by the organization.
