All Things Sports

As some of you may know, my favorite sport is not tennis, which I play for my school, it is soccer. There is no bigger event in soccer or the world than the FIFA World Cup. This year, it is being played in the nation of Qatar and while the on-field product has lived up to the hype of the world’s biggest event, the off-field product has been nothing, but controversy after controversy. Now the issues off the field have been well documented by people with more expertise than I, but I wanted to provide my take on it because soccer is something that is so dear to me and to see something like this angers me. However it is through this anger that I have come to the realization that Qatar is the perfect host for the World Cup. Let me show you why.

 Let’s start with the host: Qatar. Now right away there are red flags about its capabilities as a host. The list of issues included lack of quality infrastructure, bad climate, and strict laws, and that is before looking at issues that arose from hosting. In order to host the World Cup, teams must bid for it and in 2010 Qatar was among the teams to bid to host it. It was not the favorite to win the vote, however, as that belonged to the bid being pushed by the United States. However, Qatar won the bid and it has long been suspected that they won this bid by allegedly corrupt methods(I don’t want to get sued so allegedly). Nevertheless, the works proceeded as Qatar spent 200 billion dollars on improving infrastructure. However, much of the labor was done by migrants from other Asian countries such as India or Bangladesh. The treatment of these migrant workers was comparable to that of slaves as they were controlled by their “employers” and faced harsh, inhumane working conditions that nobody should ever have to face. The human rights record, which is shady at best, has been something they have failed to properly acknowledge. Another big issue was their treatment of the LGBTQ+ community, something that is kind of important. It is essentially illegal to be gay in Qatar as demonstrations of homosexual behavior can land you in jail for 7 years. Seven years! This is a prime example of  a red flag. Now with all of this and more, you would think that Fifa would attempt to maybe try and change things there or force them to recognize certain things in order to host, but no they carried on as if everything was normal. When the president of FIFA was asked about the issues with being gay, he said that they should just not be gay while they are in Qatar. What great advice.

 Now let’s talk about FIFA because that is not the worst thing they have said or done. This organization is responsible for the most popular sport in the world and they are also the most corrupt organization in the world. The list of corruption is so bad that anything I say will not be enough to do it justice. Let’s just say that its previous president had to resign because of corruption and the corruption among the top was so bad that the FBI got involved. The organization that is so corrupt and so evil is responsible for this as much as Qatar. It is of no surprise to me when the current FIFA president is glossing over the human rights record or the mistreatment of LGBTQ+ people because I have come to expect this out of him. So now it is obvious how Qatar and its government is a perfect fit. They are both corrupt, evil, and powerful groups that don’t really care about the fans or the players, or anyone for that matter(besides sponsors). They just care that their pockets are filled at the end of the day and it doesn’t matter who gets hurt along the way.

 Despite all this, I love soccer so much that I will still watch the tournament and that is why they get away with it: people like me who love the game too much to quit it. Just remember that when you turn on your TV and see the final on December 18th, the FIFA World Cup is where it belongs.