The German national team
Two years ago, we at Soccer Walks NYC wrote a blog post entitled, Why the 2022 World Cup in Qatar is a disgrace - Qatartroversy. The tournament is still scheduled to be held in the tiny Middle East country just over a year from now. The only certainty surroundings the event is the controversy that has followed it since FIFA selected Qatar to host the World Cup back in 2010.
To recap, some of the problems that have arisen about Qatar 2022 include:
How did a country with no soccer history and a population of just 2.7 million people get the right to host the world’s largest sporting event? Keep in mind that Qatar won the bid over the US, Australia, Japan and South Korea. Accusations of vote-buying continue to this day.
The World Cup has been held in the summer since the inaugural tournament in 1930. However, due to the intense heat in Qatar, the entire soccer world is being asked to come to a mid-season stop in order to hold the tournament in Qatar’s “cooler months” or November and December.
The treatment of migrant workers has surrounded Qatar 2022 for over a decade. A 2013 exposé in The Guardian revealed widespread exploitation of laborers helping to build the World Cup infrastructure.
The Norwegian national team
A Human Rights Watch report in March 2021 exposed Qatar’s treatment of women along with the country’s attitude towards homosexuality.
Amnesty International has also investigated the Qatar 2022 tournament in an expose entitled, Qatar World Cup of Shame.
For fans contemplating traveling to Qatar for the tournament, they should take into account the fact that public displays of affection is prohibited and modest clothing is expected to be worn outside. Alcohol is prohibited except at restaurants inside upscale hotels.
The idea of a boycott has been mentioned but the reality of that taking place is not realistic.
Denmark is one country that has expressed its concern over Qatar’s human rights record. Both fans and players for the national team have made their voices heard.
Denmark national team
Earlier this year, the Danish national team wore T-shirts with the slogan “football supports CHANGE” prior to a match against Moldova.
Denmark captain Simon Kjær even put out the following statement:
As captain, I must say that we players have not chosen the [Human Rights] World Cup 2022 to be played in Qatar and we are very critical of the conditions we see in the country. Of course, we continue to fully and firmly support the DBU’s critical line towards Qatar. We players have several times publicly shown our position in relation to the [HRWC] in Qatar, but now we have to keep the focus on the game on the field.
The national sides of Norway, Germany and Holland have also raised concerns over human rights.
Despite the protests and outrage, it appears that FIFA’s Qatar 2022 tournament will kick off in November 2022.
The whole world will be watching the matches, as well as how Qatar deals with its human rights issues.
Dutch national team