Qatar will soon be the focus of all eyes, with the 2022 World Cup nearing. But the tournament has been controversially disruptive and one of the most controversial to date.
England and Wales will be competing for glory in the first Middle Eastern country hosting the World Cup.
In addition, Qatar will also be the smallest nation by land size ever to stage football’s most famous and fabulous tournament.
The controversy surrounding it is not because of the fact that the Arab state was chosen as host by FIFA in 2010.
Qatar: Where are you?
The country is located in in the Middle East, specifically on the continent of Asia – in the North eastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula.
It shares a border between eastern Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, as well as maritime boundaries with Iran, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
FIFA estimates that Qatar will welcome nearly 40 percent of its population to the World Cup.
It beat bids from Australia and South Korea in 2010, after receiving an overwhelming majority of 14 votes during the fourth round.
What is it that makes the World Cup in Qatar so controversial?
A poor record in human right and accusations about the treatment of migrant workersRecent problems have plagued the Gulf State.
The maximum sentence for homosexuality in men is three years imprisonment. Same-sex marriages, however, are not recognized by the government.
Women’s rights are also much worse than in other parts of the world, with females needing permission from a male guardian to leave Qatar if unmarried and under the age of 25.
Due to precedents established by Qatari law, reporting sexual violence is a serious concern.
Several recent cases have seen victims accused of extra-marital sex – a crime which carries a prison sentence – instead of being offered support.
If the defendant are Muslims, they could be subject to flogging. This is a prohibited international human-rights law.
The UK government has advised survivors that their passport could be taken during any investigation by police. However, emergency contraception is only available with a marriage license.
Hummel released a statement about their ‘toned down’ Denmark kit for the 2022 World Cup, saying it’s in protest of Qatar’s human rights record.
adidas recently became the World Cup’s main sponsor. Contributed to a compensation fund for migrant workers.
All these concerns have led to FIFA being questioned for 12 years about the legitimacy of the bidding process which saw Qatar host.
Fifteen of the 22 FIFA executive committee members who were involved in the selection have since faced criminal charges or been banned by world football’s governing body.
Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter was also included in this group, who admitted publicly years later that it was a mistake.
Harry Kane will be wearing an anti-discrimination wristband during England’s World Cup matches in Qatar.
The tournament will support the OneLove campaign to end discrimination. It will also feature the captains from nine other countries, including Wales, who will participate throughout the tournament.
Qatar’s World Cup chief, Nasser Al Khater, has said fans can display rainbow flags but ‘it’s a FIFA matter’ whether approval is given over whether Kane and Gareth Bale can wear multicoloured armbands.
He added: “This is a sporting tournament that people want to come (to) and enjoy. Turning it into a platform of political statements I don’t think is right for the sport.”
What have you heard?
“All we ask is for people to be respectful of the culture,” Mr Al Khater said. “At the end of the day, as long as you don’t do anything that harms other people, if you’re not destroying public property, as long as you’re behaving in a way that’s not harmful, then everybody’s welcome and you have nothing to worry about.”
He added: “Everybody is welcome here and everyone will feel safe when they come to Qatar.”
On whether that invite extends to LBTQ+ fans, for example, holding hands in public, Mr Al Khater added: “Yes. If I held your hand now, and I walked out into the street for hours and hours and hours nobody would say anything to us.”
Some have asked whether England should not boycott the World Cup in Qatar. Simon Jordan, talkSPORT’s host, joined the discussion back in March.
“First of all, it is unfair of putting footballers that position”, Jordan said.
“They should be aware of the back drop of the situation surrounding the building of stadiums in that country.
“Whilst we know the western standards we want are not being replicated in Qatar, it is not necessarily our job, and certainly not the job of our footballers to go into another country and tell them what their standards, protocols and approaches to society should be.
“We know in the west that that being homophobic and misogynistic are not traits that we want to see around the world, but it is not our gift to go to Qatar and lecture them about how their society is held together, and it certainly isn’t the gift of our footballers.
“Now, you extrapolate that up, and if you want to say to those footballers, you want to have an opinion, you’re entitled to have one.
“If you then want to lever neutral space of the football pitch to vast out opinion, then why don’t you go the full hog? If you’re willing to make that sacrifice, That is the full length and breadth of the argument.”
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