The FIFA World Cup 2022 which is an international soccer tournament is hosted by Qatar this year. Qatar is a small country on the Arabian Peninsula in Middle East Asia. It has an area of 4,471 square miles which is smaller than the state of Connecticut by about 20%. The World Cup is taking place from November 20th to December 18th. This year's world cup brought up many controversies.
First, I’d like to mention corruption. The decision that Qatar could host the 2022 World Cup was made back in 2010 by the FIFA board. Many members of the board suddenly changed their opinion after a meeting with people from Qatar. Furthermore, they didn’t need to pay for vacations or got some presents. Moreover, to choose Qatar as a host country also seems quite unreasonable. The country doesn’t have a meaningful soccer tradition and was also lacking basic infrastructure like stadiums. In addition to that, it is way too hot in summer to play soccer. It can reach over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, so the tournament had to be moved to winter.
Furthermore, there are many human rights violations in Qatar. There had to be built seven new stadiums, hundred hotels and an entire network of roads and rails to transport fans between the arenas and hotels. It is estimated that 95% of the country’s labor force is made up of migrants. They have to work under terrible conditions. There is nearly no safety at work. A 2021 investigation by the guardian found that more than 6,500 migrant workers had died because of workplace accidents, car crashes, suicides or because of the heat. Also, homosexuality is illegal in Qatar and the country’s penal code criminalizes sex outside of marriage which leads to the prosecution of rape victims.
FIFA might claim that this is the world’s first fully carbon-neutral FIFA World Cup tournament, but many climate researchers doubt that. There are many, many flights to and from the country during the World Cup daily. Moreover, the fields need to be watered. Each field needs about 10,000 liters of desalinated water every day. The stadiums are also all air-conditioned because of the heat.
In my opinion, the World Cup is highly controversial. I think that it is unbelievable what people do for money. I just don’t see any good reasons why you would choose to let a country like Qatar host a World Cup. Moreover, so many people have to suffer so we can have fun watching soccer. Personally, I’m not so interested in soccer, so I also don’t really watch it. However, I also heard of people boycotting this year's World Cup by not watching it.
Questions
Do you think the World Cup is controversial?
Do you watch the World Cup?
Do you think that the World Cup should be boycotted?
Sources
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-world-cup-in-qatar-is-a-climate-catastrophe/
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/19/sports/soccer/world-cup-qatar-2022.html
https://www.npr.org/2022/11/18/1137204271/qatar-world-cup-controversies
https://abcnews.go.com/International/qatar-soccer-world-cup-controversial/story?id=93283278
Replies
Love the topic and super job Laura!
I do not think that the World Cup is controversial. I do watch the World Cup because I love soccer. The World Cup is something special that happens every year and it is very intresting expecally when your own country is in it. I do not think the World Cup should be boycotted.
I don't agree with you. In my view, you just cannot accept all the things tha tare going on without critizing it.
I don't think the world cup is that controversial sure some people get a little to exited sometimes but for the most part, it is just fine. Personaly I don't watch the world cup but I can see why some people do.
I think the country is definitely making a good amount of money from the people that go and see the world cup. personally I dont watch the would cup, but from what you said I think they definitely need to learn from what had happend. although, soccer is not a huge sport to most people its still very much loved by alot of people and I dont feel like it should boycotted.
I personally think that the World Cup this year is controversial for many reasons you mentioned. First of all they had to change the original date to do it because of the hot temperatures in summer there, they had to buid a lot of students and many people died doing them and many other reasons. I watch the World Cup but I don't think it should be boycotted, it should just be a way to learn and never repeat the error they made.
I hope so too that the people in power learn from this year's criticism.
I don't think that the world cup is controveral, but it could definetly be in a better spot. Qatar is having to go through all this work to host it when it could be somewhere else. Although, the country is probably getting a lot of money from tourists that are coming and watching it.
I don't think that the world cup is in a great spot. I think that is why people is "controversal". I have been watching the world cup. I don't usually watch any type of soccer. This has been fun to watch the United States play soccer. I don' think that it is controvesal besides the location.
I mostly agree with you. I don't think that the world cup itself is bad. However, I would criticize the system of corruption behind it and Qatar as a country because of its human rights violations.
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