The World Cup in Qatar

At the outset, Qatar, the first Arab country to host a World Cup, is an extremely unlikely host. It has no footballing tradition, as it demonstrated in the opening match; it suffers from a heat that forces it to play in November and, on top of that, it bans beer; its choice over the USA was the subject of suspicions that cost the FIFA president his job; finally, its respect for human rights is perfectly describable.

So it is not easy to explain why the World Cup will be played this year in the tiny Gulf Emirate. Size does not matter in this case, as Uruguay, which also has three million inhabitants, hosted the first World Cup in 1930 and won it. What stings most is its blatant disrespect for women's and LGBTI rights, as is the case in other Muslim countries. FIFA has banned players from wearing rainbow armbands in protest, although it could not prevent Iranian players from refusing to sing their anthem and English players from kneeling in solidarity with battered Iranian women. Qatar's treatment of migrant workers (90% of the population, as there are only 300,000 Qataris) is also bad, and in this respect it is no different from the other Gulf petro-monarchies, although this is no excuse and there are many deaths during the construction of the stadiums due to the harsh working conditions under the relentless sun. All this is true, regrettable and condemnable, and that is why there are those who are calling for a boycott of this championship.

But I wonder if we are not asking of football what does not belong to football to resolve, after all, the Emir of Qatar recently visited Spain where he announced investments worth millions and was received like royalty by Felipe VI, Pedro Sánchez and the big businessmen of the IBEX. Barça and Paris Saint-Germain have worn the Qatar Airways logo on their shirts, World Cups have been held in countries that did not respect human rights either, such as Argentina (1978) and Russia (2018), and the Spanish Super Cup will be played again in Riyadh in 2023. The same goes for the Olympic Games, or is China a model in its treatment of the Uighurs and Tibetans? After all, democratic countries are unfortunately in short supply. The same emir of Qatar owns Paris Saint-Germain with the most expensive squad in Europe, and other Middle Eastern sheikhs own English clubs such as Newcastle (Saudi Arabia) and Manchester City (United Arab Emirates, whose airline is also a sponsor of London's Arsenal).

The football championship, every four years, is the most followed and most passionate competition in the world and demonstrates the vitality of the nation-state through identification with an anthem and a flag, probably because the abstraction of the homeland is easily realised in the visualisation of eleven athletes wearing the same jersey and coming from all walks of life and all corners of the homeland. Many wear the colours of the flag on the same equipment. The Olympics also counts the medals won by each country.

This World Cup has a bearing on a complicated regional political situation: Qatar has been at odds with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates from 2017 to 2021 over its independent policy, its support for the Muslim Brotherhood and criticism of them by the Doha-based Al-Jazeera television network. The diplomatic and economic boycott then led Qatar to move closer to Iran, with which it shares a huge gas pocket, its main source of wealth. And yet now, at the opening ceremony, Mohammed bin Salman was seen alongside the emir of Qatar, who also jubilantly celebrated the unlikely Saudi victory over Argentina. Perhaps this tournament will help heal the wounds. 

So enjoy the football.

Jorge Dezcallar, Spain's ambassador

Published in Diario de Mallorca, Cadena de Prensa Ibérica and El Periódico de Catalunya on Sunday 27 November 2022