The irony of FIFA awarding the 2022 world cup to Qatar

 The world cup is a big deal. It can change the economy of a country in 17 short days, completely change the tourism scenario, and a multitude of other things. So, getting awarded to host the world cup is also a big deal. When FIFA awarded Qatar the right to host the 2022 World cup in December 2010, it caused many eyes to roll for all the wrong reasons. For starters, Qatar was very unsuitable for any kind of tournament, let alone a world cup.  In 2010, when Qatar was awarded the rights, it had just 1 stadium, no hotel infrastructure, no public transport to note, and a huge human rights crisis. Qatar being the world host was similar to a donkey winning a beauty pageant contest. A donkey shouldn't be winning a human beauty pageant contest, it should get disqualified from the preliminary round. Yet, Qatar was given the right to host the cup.

Unsuitable as a Host

Before awarding Qatar the 2022 world cup, FIFA did full research on how unstable Qatar was for a summer football tournament. And very unsurprisingly, FIFA found it was very very unsuitable and dangerous for the world cup. The summer temperatures would be hazardous for the players and the fans, Qatar’s capital Doha simply didn't have the infrastructure to greet this many fans. They needed to build 9 new stadiums which couldn't be placed in Doha, resulting in them creating an entirely new city. Imagine creating a new city for hosting a world cup. Qatar was not only a surprising choice for a world cup, it was logically inexplicable. 

A World Cup in Winter?

The main and obvious problem was Qatar’s notorious heat in the summer prompting FIFA to eventually move the tournament to winter. However, before that, Qatari genius scientists proposed that they create artificial clouds to control temperatures themselves. This technology doesn't even exist and shows how clueless even Qataris were about what to do with the world cup.   

Fig: In 2011, Qatari Scientists showed their apparent solution to fix the heat during the world cup 

Corruption, Bribery and Lack of Infrastructure

So, it is clear by this point Qatar did not win the world cup by random chance or lucky draw. It was corruption and bribery. Now, as with all corrupt governments in history, Qatar has denied all allegations of corruption and bribery despite having tons of evidence. Still, the fact remained, Qatar needed to build an airport, a new metro system, a city, roads, and 100 new hotels. 

Fig: Everything Qatar had to build from scratch within a decade

Human Rights Abuse

Well, at this point you might think what's the big fuss? 10 years have passed since Qatar was awarded the world cup. They did create a new city, 100 hotels, 9 stadiums, and everything. They spent 300 billion dollars doing so and the world cup is happening right now. However, Qatar did those projects using immigrant workers. Qatari consists of 13.2 % of Qatar’s entire population. The rest are immigrant workers from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan - responsible for building all the infrastructure for the world cup in 10 years. And Qatar did not treat their workers nicely. Human Rights Watch declared the construction of the world cup as “Modern Day Slavery”. When the workers got to Qatar, they had their passports confiscated, they could not switch jobs without their employer's explicit permission, and virtually 0 labor rights.

Fig: Last time, FIFA did a collab with Vladimir Putin and hosted it in Russia

Laborers were underpaid and had to work through the brutal Qatari summer. That is 52-degree Celsius on average. Besides, the living conditions for these workers were truly pathetic. They had to live in labor camps far away on the outskirts of Doha. In February 2021, The Guardian reported that till that point, 6500 migrant workers died while building the World Cup Infrastructure. Qatar committed one of the biggest crimes in history and is now getting cheered for hosting a nice and cozy world cup. When FIFA awarded Qatar the world cup, there was only 1 way those stadiums were getting built, by only 1 group of people - migrant workers. FIFA did it anyway.

  Fig: The astronomical cost of hosting a World Cup in Qatar

Any Hope for the future?

FIFA is planning to award the 2030 World Cup to Saudi Arabia, which is going to be 30x more interesting than the drama that happened in Qatar in the last 10 years. Saudi Arabia’s Government has everything that makes the Qatar government problematic amplified to the power of 10. All we can hope is FIFA awards the world cup to someone whom people care about football and not a geopolitical battle between dictators.