The bloodiest World Cup in history begins. Lots of things go wrong in Qatar and FIFA celebrates football’s final sell-off, but sets out to save the world. This tournament requires particularly critical observation – but without pointing fingers from above.
So now she is here. The Soccer World Cup, which has been the subject of debate for more than a decade. Which so many didn’t want. And over which a dark shadow has hung since it was awarded in 2010. The most expensive World Cup ever. The most controversial World Cup. The most criticized World Cup. The football tournament in Qatar.
Welcome to FIFA’s $220 billion bankruptcy project. But this World Cup does not only cost banknotes; many people had to pay with their health or even their lives so that fans from all over the world can now cheer a game with a ball. At least 6,500 migrant workers died building the World Cup infrastructure (including stadiums, an airport, roads, public transport and around 100 hotels). Based on the 169 goals scored at the World Cup in Russia, that would mean 39 lives for every goal scored. Amnesty International even reports 15,000 dead workers in Qatar since the tournament was awarded to the desert state. One thing is certain: This is also the bloodiest World Cup that has ever existed.
Human trafficking, modern slavery, the kafala system: new reforms in the country are not enough for human rights organizations, are often not enforced consistently and only come after thousands have died. Female migrant workers in households in particular continue to be threatened and unprotected, and their struggle is barely visible. They are still denied the protection of new institutions and can only flee at great risk if they are mistreated. The DFB also has to ask itself: is the Qatar regime doing some kind of image buffing or are they actively tackling campaigns and donating World Cup bonuses to a fund set up specifically for those who are suffering and their families?
There is also a lot of excitement about the rights of the LGBTQ community in Qatar. Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser obtains a security guarantee for them for the duration of the World Cup, a Qatari World Cup ambassador calls homosexuality “mental damage” in a ZDF documentary, and Gianni Infantino also reports on security guarantees from the highest authorities. But everything can change very quickly in Qatar.
The authors of this article, who have been reporting from Qatar since Friday, are also unintentionally becoming part of the abuse process. They fly with Qatar Airways, the state airline, for whose partnership they criticize FC Bayern. They sleep in a hotel, use the new subway and report from World Cup stadiums that are covered in blood. At the beginning of the year, Hiba Zayadin, senior golf expert at the human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW), told ntv.de that abuse would be omnipresent at the World Cup: “Every fan and every player who goes to the World Cup will at some point dealing with a migrant worker who was mistreated.” And the mistreatment doesn’t stop during the World Cup as if by magic.
Nevertheless, it is important to be there, to report on grievances, to hold the powers that be in football and Qatar accountable, to take a close look at what is happening off the pitch before, during and after the mega-event. For example, when FIFA boss Gianni Infantino launches into a wild PR speech that could just as easily have come from the Emir of Qatar, as happened on Saturday.
With small demonstrations of power in recent days, the host country cemented its position above the world football association. When it comes to beer, Qatar doesn’t care about FIFA. They also don’t care that in Doha, as Infantino explains, more than “100,000 people can consume alcohol” at the same time in more than “200 places”. The beer ban isn’t even aimed at local fans. It’s another middle finger from Qatar towards Europe, towards the critics. You can ask what you want and we can do what we want.
Basically no problem for Infantino either: “If this is going to be the biggest problem of the tournament, then I’ll sign immediately and hang out on the beach until December 18,” he says and explains: “Three hours without beer a day can be survived !” At least the content is correct. Nobody has ever died from a lack of beer, unlike from a lack of water when working in the heat. Infantino’s justification for the alcohol ban: It’s about the safety of the spectators at this dense, compact World Cup. “We have to make sure people can get in and out of the stadium, so we had to make this decision,” he says. A decision that FIFA naturally supports: “It’s never too late to do the right thing.”
The 2022 FIFA World Cup is synonymous with football’s final sell-off. Because it’s not just Qatar, it’s also FIFA. It makes it possible to carry Qatari capitalism out into the world. The small emirate on the Gulf uses the soft power of football to protect itself against its larger neighbors. The small emirate on the Gulf uses its wealth to even dictate terms to FIFA. The world governing body has come over the host nations in the years leading up to the white elephants in Brazil, the gargantuan stadiums left unused after the 2014 tournament.
It was already different in 2018 at the tournament in pre-war Russia. President Vladimir Putin had already annexed Crimea and consolidated his positions in eastern Ukraine. The protests against the tournament are mild. Infantino is courting Putin. The German media are soon more interested in the disaster of the DFB-Elf than in the circumstances of the double award to Russia and Qatar in 2010 and the repression of the Russian regime.
It will be different in Qatar. The sporting narrative of the tournament has been in the background so far. It will be the last World Cup for many influential figures in world football. The German captain Manuel Neuer, the superstars Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, the big generation of Uruguay around Luis Suárez – they all will most likely not play for their country at the tournament in 2026 in the USA, Canada and Mexico. New stars will take their first steps on the world stage. The Bundesliga has two of these players in Bayern’s Jamal Musiala and Borussia Dortmund’s Jude Bellingham.
FIFA President Infantino wants politics to end, excitement to end. It shouldn’t be like that. It is unclear to what extent something like joy about this darkly marked World Cup can spread in Germany before Christmas. Calls for a TV boycott of the tournament have grown louder in recent weeks. Sporting aspects played no role in the run-up to this “World Cup of Shame” in Europe. The more Infantino wants the politics he doesn’t like out of football, the more his gaze focuses on that. The FIFA boss reacted on Saturday with furious attacks on Europe.
However, it is also important not to point the finger in a lecturing manner. The crushing accusations that the World Cup was bought also apply to the summer fairy tale of 2006 in Germany. And for the football-mad Middle East and all Islamic countries, the tournament is a milestone in the direction of global equality.
There are good reasons why this tournament is not taking place in the western world again. It is also the first Summer World Cup for the South Americans. There are enough reasons for criticism. This isn’t one. Even if, due to the tight schedule of the national leagues, stars like Sadio Mané and Karim Benzema have to miss the World Cup due to injuries.
This is how this controversial tournament in the emirate on the Gulf begins in front of 60,000 spectators in the Al-Bayt Stadium, which is modeled on a Bedouin tent, outside of Doha. Under the eyes of Infantino, under the eyes of Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, and numerous state leaders, but in the absence of Chancellor Olaf Scholz and any euphoria in Germany.
What the families of the many guest workers think when they kick off is not communicated. However, some will probably think of their family members who were injured or even killed during the construction of Al Bayt Stadium. In a report, the human rights organization Equidem lists many of the incidents that occurred during the construction of the flagship building. The bloodiest World Cup in football history is on.