Should We Be Watching the World Cup in Qatar?

In 2018 Russia hosted the World Cup while it was brutally invading Syria (and bombing hospitals in my family’s hometown of Aleppo).

Russia spent the 2010s openly flouting international law: annexing Crimea, committing war crimes in Syria, and poisoning Sergei and

Yulia Skripal

in Great Britain. Russia was not held to account by the international media that flocked to Moscow for the World Cup.

FIFA President

Gianni Infantino

has claimed that FIFA is an organization that seeks to “unite the world.” There should be no doubt that handing the host baton to such countries as Russia—and now to Qatar, the 2022 host of the World Cup—helps normalize regimes that violate human rights. Mr. Infantino has even suggested that North Korea could host the World Cup, a scenario that would see international soccer players playing on fields only miles away from forced-labor camps.

FIFA isn’t uniting the world. It’s handing out gold stars to human-rights abusers.

—Kareem Rifai, University of Michigan, international security

The Beautiful Game

The World Cup has been one of the most unifying traditions in the world because soccer is a global sport that can be followed in nearly every country. Not only a beautiful game, it’s also known to many as the world’s game. Stories are told of bitter enemies stopping to play a game of soccer with each other even during war. Take the Christmas Truce of 1914, when German and English troops climbed out of trenches, into no-man’s-land, to exchange greetings and play a game of soccer.

The sport is not the problem. FIFA, the governing body behind soccer, however, is a problem. FIFA has a long and well-documented history of corruption, from claims of fixed matches to accusations of countries having to pay for the chance at hosting a World Cup.

But the ruling organization does not define the sport itself, and now, during the play of the 2022 World Cup, we should remember that soccer has given joy to billions of people. It has provided an opportunity for people in less fortunate situations to make a name for their hometowns and provide for their families. The competition allows the global population an outlet: a monthlong competition where we can forget our differences and simply enjoy the beautiful game.

—Hayden Spratlin, University of Kansas, journalism

FIFA and Qatar Are Hurting the World Cup

The World Cup brings together nations from across the world. It is clear, however, that FIFA is rotten to the core.

How can an event help the world when freedom of speech, one of the most basic tenets of human rights, is penalized with yellow cards? Many countries have opted to not wear OneLove antidiscrimination armbands this year because of yellow-card threats from FIFA. Equally corrupt is the way in which Qatar treated its migrant workers, who built the backbone of the World Cup infrastructure.

Qatar and the World Cup didn’t stop there. In a blatant disregard for such sponsors as Budweiser, they charged millions of dollars for support, only to renege days before the matches began on the promise of beer sales.

Qatar does not respect the values of the World Cup, and FIFA must be held accountable for its massive failures.

—Daniel Dart, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MBA

A Welcome Escape

Given the sustained viewership and global fanfare around the World Cup, it’s clear that most people don’t seem to care about FIFA’s corruption or the flaws of the host country. Whether in Russia in 2018 or in Qatar in 2022, fans from around the world come together to support their teams while advertisers compete over lucrative sponsorship contracts. This craze even extends to noncompeting nations, such as Bangladesh, where a party of thousands erupted in the capitol of Dhaka as Argentina’s

Lionel Messi

netted his second goal of the tournament.

The world’s most popular sporting event offers a much-needed escape, particularly from the dire events of recent years. For many, such an escape is welcomed, regardless of who organizes or hosts it.

—Long Tran-Bui, Swarthmore College, politics, philosophy and economics

Soccer on the Field, Corruption off the Field

On the field, the World Cup represents peaceful competition between nations and a chance for countries to showcase some of their most talented citizens. Off the field, however, the governments of the participating nations often do what they do best: make corrupt deals.

Anyone could have guessed that FIFA, a closed-off organization interacting with world leaders who have deep pockets, would be tempted by bribes. The governments of Russia and Qatar see the World Cup as a gateway to normalize their backward regimes, to use sport to legitimize their atrocities.

Football fans around the globe, who simply want to see their countrymen go for glory, are none the wiser. And why should they be? The large, trusted brands who perennially sponsor the World Cup don’t seem to care whether the host country has recently invaded another country. Where there are eyeballs, the advertising dollars will follow.

Because fans idealize the World Cup as such a unifying event, opponents of autocratic regimes that host the event are seen as giving political preference priority over international sport. The World Cup forces us to ask: By what set of rules are we to judge a world sporting event?

—Lincoln Badley, Boston College, finance and entrepreneurship

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