Soccer fans from around the globe are watching in anxious anticipation as some of their favorite teams compete in this year’s FIFA World Cup; however, this year, the competition has been plagued with controversy.
One of the most prevalent issues, on the forefront of many fans minds, is due to issues surrounding the host country Qatar.
Qatar is a small Persian Gulf nation bordering Saudi Arabi. They are known for their oil supply, and subsequent weath leading to lavish areas.
However, they employee a large number of forgein workers in their oil production process, which is one of their largest controversies lies. There are mounting concerns about human rights abuses with allegations that they exploited migrant workers.
According to data from the Human Rights Watch list, they have a migrant workforce of almost 2 million people, comprising 95% of their workforce.
Qatar has been a country of concern for many years and has even taken some steps and legislative action to reform some areas. However, they have been “woefully inadequate” and are not enforced to standards.
“Abuse and exploitation of the country’s large migrant workforce persisted in 2021 despite the introduction of labor reforms, in part because of ineffective implementation and because certain elements of the kafala (sponsorship) system remained in place. Women in Qatar continued to face severe discrimination and violence due to abusive male guardianship policies,” said the Human Rights Watch
Their time in the global spotlight as the World Cup host has brought up more discussion about the issue.
“Despite the global scrutiny brought by the FIFA World Cup 2022, migrant workers continue to face wage abuse and exorbitant recruitment fees. Migrant worker deaths are not investigated, and their families are not provided reparations. Some male guardianship policies and discriminatory laws against women continue. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals continue to face discrimination,” said the Human Rights Watch.
While this is a major part of the surrounding controversy, the list is far from over. MarketWatch lists a myriad of issues spectators are taking up about from envionmental impact to a last-minute ban on alcohol.
When Qatar got the bid to host the World Cup they pledged for it to be “the most enviormantally friendly in history,” according to MarketWatch. However, there has been a lack of transparency and growing concern about how their practices are aligning to their pledge.
Additionally, according to MarketWatch there have even been questions circulating about how Qatar got the bid to host in the first place. They were deemed a “high security risk,” so there are speculations of corruption.
Another issue for many fans, especially the ones is attendance, is their last minute ban on alcohol at the World Cup.
“Qatar said that it would allow beer sales within stadiums during the World Cup,” MarketWatch said. “And Budweiser spent a reported $75 million to become the official beer sponsor of the World Cup. But just two days before kickoff Qatar pulled an about-face and announced it would not allow beer to be sold at stadiums during the tournament.”
Since then, Budweiser has pledged to give their allotted supply for the World Cup to the winning team.
This all has lead to many countries coming forward condemning practices of the host country, and several countries are not hosting any public screenings as a result.
And it doesn’t end there. Controversy is still ensuing the game, on a team level. According to CNN reports, Iran has called for the US to be kicked out of the World Cup.
The United States Soccer Federation “temporarily displayed Iran’s national flag on its official Twitter, Instagram and Facebook accounts without the emblem of the Islamic Republic,” CNN said. “US Soccer told CNN on Sunday that it wanted to change the official flag for 24 hours to show “support for the women in Iran fighting for basic human rights” but always planned to go back to the original flag.
While the original flag is now once again displayed, its impact has been profound.
Iran called for the US to be removed from the World Cup and suspended for 10 games as a result of distorting their flag.
All of this has lead to a rather big shadow looming over the World Cup, dimming its spotlight in the forefront of sports.
