FIFA confirmed this Thursday (11) the anticipation of the opening of the World Cup. The clash between Qatar, the home team, and Ecuador has been moved to November 20 at Al Bait Stadium. The match was scheduled for the following day.
This means that this Friday (12) marks the beginning of the 100-day countdown to the start of the World Cup.
The last-minute change, 12 years after the nation was chosen to host the 2022 World Cup, is one of many controversies surrounding the tournament, which, for the first time, because of the Qatari summer, will take place between November and December, not in June.
Never has a choice of headquarters been so tumultuous. In the final round of votes, Qatar beat the United States 14-8. Among all the elections held by FIFA to determine a country to host the competition, none has been the target of so many allegations of corruption.
Qatar is not the first country to have a goal that goes beyond sports when hosting the Cup. There have been issues of geopolitics in the past (such as Russia-2018), political use of a dictatorship (Argentina-1978) and economic ones, of course. The organizers of the Russian World Cup estimated that holding the tournament added US$ 14 billion to the national economy (R$ 72 billion at current prices).
The Qatari government’s estimate for this year’s event is US$17 billion.
The Arab nation is 100 days away from taking a decisive step in a much bigger plan. The Cup is part of the “Qatar National Vision 2030”, a national plan that aims to make the country a sustainable tourism hub by 2030. This includes a strategy to expand the economy beyond the extraction of oil and natural gas.
The two riches represent more than 70% of the local finances and more than 60% of the Gross Domestic Product. They also account for 85% of exports from Qatar, owner of the third largest reserves of natural gas on the planet.
The total cost of “Qatar National Vision 2030” was not disclosed, but part is in the construction of the city of Lusail, next to the capital Doha. The intention is for it to be one of the Cup’s business cards. The project received an investment of US$ 45 billion (R$ 231.8 billion at the current price). It includes the Iconic Stadium of Lusail, which will host the final on December 18th.
The city built from scratch is also an alternative for high-wage immigrants and Qataris to live right next to Doha. Lusail was not conceived for poor immigrants, who dedicated themselves to manual work – the majority of the population in the country.
Of the 2.8 million people living in Qatar, only about 350,000 are local. All others are immigrants. They are the workforce responsible for putting the infrastructure and stadium works that will make the Cup possible.
“The World Cup is a catalyst for positive change. Over the past ten years, significant changes that have taken place in working conditions have made our biggest critics recognize Qatar’s commitment and the changes that have taken place,” he told Sheet in 2019 the secretary general of the committee, Hassan Al Thawadi.
It’s a message that has been extensively conveyed to the world because it’s a cause for concern: how foreign fans will view Qatar and how Qatar will view foreign visitors. FIFA’s dream is that a repetition of the Russian phenomenon of 2018 will now take place, when the country and its population opened up to the different habits of visitors who traveled to the World Cup.
The potential conflict lies with the LGBTQA+ community and women.
Qatar is the place in the Persian Gulf that gives women the most rights, but that doesn’t mean much compared to Western nations. In the global gender equality rankings, it is ranked 44th. Doha is one of the most socially tolerant cities in the Middle East and it is common for women to walk outside in Western dress.
The desire to change, thanks to the World Cup, the view that foreigners have of the country did not change the weight of women in society. Laws give more weight to men in inheritances, marriages and testimonies in court cases. The most controversial factor is in divorce and rights over children.
Public displays of affection are prohibited in Qatar. As well as homosexuality.
“We work very hard to educate people about our culture, which is progressively conservative. There is a list of rules that are not unique to Qatar and are adopted by a portion of the globe. We ask visitors to appreciate and respect our culture. At the same time, let them enjoy the hospitality we offer”, argues Hassan Al Thawadi.
“Public displays of affection, whether between a man and a woman or from other couples, are not part of our culture, and we ask that people respect that. Don’t show it in public. We’re not saying don’t be yourself. have an open mind, enjoy the different and don’t focus on the negative.”
Qatar has spent the last 12 years defending itself on the rights of migrant workers as well.
There are reports of illegal fees charged by intermediaries and companies for hiring, non-payment or improper withholding of wages, conditions analogous to slavery, exhausting working hours in temperatures that can exceed 50ºC in summer and, especially, “kafala”.
This is the law that determined that the migrant worker can only change jobs if the previous employer gives him a letter authorizing him. Qatar says the “kafala” has been phased out, but the bodies responsible for the report say it remains in place at several companies.
According to an Amnesty International report, “Hundreds of thousands of workers hired to make the World Cup possible paid exorbitant fees and were never reimbursed.” “Other thousands were cheated on wages by abusive employers, forced to work long hours or subjected to conditions analogous to forced labor.”
Qatar claims to have implemented labor reforms that are not properly recognized by some international bodies. In addition to the end of the “kafala” and the reimbursement of fees, he reports that he forced employers to reduce working hours, improved the situation of workers in the summer and made arrangements for unpaid wages.
The country has spent the last few years also shrouded in corruption allegations and having bought votes to win the election to choose the seat.
The organizing committee remains obliged to respond, even so close to the event, on the subject. The US Department of Justice claims that FIFA officials were paid in exchange for votes for Qatar. Some of them are South Americans, such as Julio Grondona (president of the Argentine Football Association, who died in 2014), the Paraguayan Nicolás Leoz (president of CONMEBOL, who died in 2019) and the former president of the CBF, Ricardo Teixeira.
Teixeira has always denied the accusations. So did Grondona and Leoz while they were alive.
According to France Football magazine, Qatar also paid US$1.5 million (R$7.7 million at current rates) to two African officials, members of FIFA’s executive committee.
Qatar denies bribes and says that the country was chosen to host the Cup because it presented the best proposal among the candidates.
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