FIFA and its president Sepp Blatter, he whose face has seen the greasing of many a palm and the closing of numerous backdoor deals, are in the news again.
As usual, it is not for the best of reasons. In the past week, FIFA has elected to double down on the reckless path it chose when it elected to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, electing to have the competition held in November and December, when it will disrupt the club season of every major international league. At this point, the fact that this decision is idiotic and mostly corrupt is largely unsurprising. Rather, it is the almost rote nature of the corruption that galls.
We expect corruption from football’s governing body at this point, and that in and of itself acts as a sad referendum on FIFA’s record. This decision, however, marks a new nadir for the organization. At this point, we can only assume that it is actively trying to dissolve any trust or faith people may have had in its decisions, as the only other option is to assume that the people involved are incredibly stupid.
And as we all know, Sepp Blatter is not a stupid man. Misogynistic, yes. Most likely corrupt, yes. Possessing a face for which only the Germans have an appropriate word, that is to say a Backpfeifengesicht, or a face which you would like to slap, yes. But stupid, no. You don’t get to be president of FIFA by being stupid. Apparently, you get it by promising your most important tournament to a country that has no history of interest in football, no requisite stadium infrastructure in order to properly host matches and no appropriate season in which to play the games.
To assume that the decision to hand the hosting rights to Qatar was influenced by what we shall charitably call “monetary concerns” is barely worth the use of the word “assume”; it practically can be taken as an ordained fact. Now, having dug itself a hole of its own making, FIFA is not only not attempting to dig itself out, but splashing around in the muck and the mire of it all. It is hard to get rid of the grimy stench that surrounds this decision, which has so little logic behind it that to prove its ridiculous nature is simply to list the facts.
Among the litany of issues that plague the Qatar World Cup are two very worrying humanitarian concerns that should automatically preclude Qatar from being able to host the World Cup. First, Qatar’s track record regarding human rights is disgraceful. Homosexuality is currently illegal in Qatar, which, apart from being fundamentally wrong in my opinion, poses the question of what football’s many LGBTQ-affiliated fans are expected to do. Faced with this concern, Blatter said, “I’d say they should refrain from any sexual activities,” showing the traditional sensitivity and poise that has made him such a stellar ambassador for the game. While FIFA has since reneged on these laughable early comments, stating that it wishes to make the World Cup open to all, this is largely an airy concept with very little concrete measures being proposed. Put simply, in this day and age, having such a country host the World Cup is unacceptable.
Furthermore, Qatar has put its migrant workers, who are constructing stadiums only necessary because the World Cup was given to a country who had never qualified for it before and has a domestic league more known for welcoming faded stars looking to make a quick buck, in awful working conditions. At the time when the Qatari bid was accepted, there was only one stadium that had the capacity necessary to host World Cup games, forcing the country to construct seven more. The mismanagement of this effort led Amnesty International to demand that the competition be taken away from Qatar, citing a report that indicated the workers brought in for this task were laboring under Qatar’s searing summer heat for 12 hours a day. Additional reports have suggested that more than 2,000 Nepalese workers have died as a result of the unsafe and sub-par working conditions they have had to endure.
The resultant picture is horrifying. These are workers working thankless tasks that are only necessary because of Qatar’s football-related issues, dying in thankless ways because of Qatar’s humanitarian issues. To any rational thinker, FIFA’s position is indefensible.
Of course, this is only the tip of the detritus-ridden iceberg of corruption. The humanitarian issues are compounded by the fact that Qatar is functionally ill-equipped to host the tournament on a football level. The tournament is always held in the summer because that is the only natural break in the season for the world’s top players. To move it to the winter is to actively force these players, whom FIFA claims to represent, into situations where they are more likely to incur injury and suffer from overexertion. Why will Qatar’s not be held in summer? Because in summer, Qatar’s temperatures regularly exceed 120 degrees Fahrenheit, a temperature which can easily cause heart attacks and heatstroke in players who will be exerting themselves for 90 minutes.
To put this in its plainest terms, the Qatari bid is a disgrace on both a football and a humanitarian level. FIFA could very easily right this ship and award the World Cup to a country with the infrastructure to support it. Countries such as France, Germany, England and even the USA have all already proven that they can host events of this nature and would need only minimal preparation time in order to host. The fact that they choose not to do so is indicative of a pervasive culture of stubbornness that has exemplified itself in pushing the World Cup to winter. The decision is unacceptable.
Not to worry, though. I’m sure the dirty backroom dollars that FIFA has accumulated over the years will help ease Blatter’s pains as he sleeps.
Dylan Fugel fears that the two-month break in the 2022 Bundesliga season will ruin the momentum of his beloved Borussia Dortmund. Ease his worries at dfugel ‘at’ stanford.edu.