“Hey Ostkurve (Hertha Berlin’s main fan stand),” read a sign from Bayern Munich fans during Saturday’s Bundesliga game. “Any arguments for Qatar?” The home fans responded with numerous banners strung across the terrace, highlighting persecution of gay people, a lack of press freedom, mis-treatment of migrant workers, sportswashing and more besides.
Over in Dortmund, a crystal clear “Boycott Qatar 2022” took center stage, while on Sunday fans in Freiburg followed suit. The words may differ but the overall message is clear and unified: Qatar should not be hosting the World Cup.
With two weeks to go until the opening fixture, the sort of arguments raised by those banners are forming the narrative of football’s biggest event. Usually the domestic season would have ended and talk would now be of players, coaches, fans, tickets and tactics. Habit, and the perennial appetite for football, means some of that exists but it now always come with a caveat.
Shining a light on Qatar
So what’s the point, then? Qatar’s motivation for hosting this tournament was not financial: The World Cup will lose them millions. So it has always seemed to be a way to salve their reputation in the western world and keep the money, and political goodwill, flowing in.
While it’s not universal — plenty don’t know or care either way — it seems to have done the opposite. Would the kafala system of employment (or slavery, depending on your perspective) be so widely known were Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Manuel Neuer and Neymar not flying out to the Middle East? Would the abhorrent attitudes towards the LGBTQ community exposed by various media reports be as much of an issue? It seems unlikely.
All this is not to say that the battle against repressive regimes hosting major sporting events has been won. After all, we enter this tournament on the back of the previous Olympics (2022 Winter Games, China) and World Cup (2018, Russia) being hosted by countries whose people suffer under dictatorships.
But there is resistance: from fans in the terraces and in their front rooms, from dissenting voices within Qatar and from sections of the media. It’s not enough, but there is no doubt the lives lost and the people traumatized to pave the way for this World Cup have been, to some degree at least, recognized.
Fans for sale?
But, when the games start to come thick and fast, it seems inevitable that the football will start to hog more of the spotlight, with those in the terraces in Doha unlikely to be afforded the same safety to protest as those in Dortmund or Berlin.
That said, those traveling do have some responsibility. It has been widely reported in recent days that Qatar have paid fans traveling to the tournament to be positive, sing certain songs and even respond to critical social media posts. Going to support your nation and staying silent about the politics is one thing, being paid to uphold a falsehood quite another.
Players and coaches have a similar moral maze to navigate. Those who have dedicated their lives to reaching the pinnacle of their career can’t necessarily be expected to give that up due to a decision made by a cowardly, deceitful FIFA before many of them turned professional. Though it should be added that plenty of former and current players have picked money over morality and promoted the tournament.
Teams wearing rainbow armbands and other gestures of solidarity are well intentioned but only matter if the spotlight can stay on the issues that count. FIFA’s recent plea to the 32 competing sides to avoid football being “dragged into every ideological or political battle that exists,” should be taken as the nonsense it is, which is exactly what European nations have done.
Speaking out is difficult, and should never be demanded of individuals, but we must hope that those with the platform, including national federations, can find the courage to do so. In that way, we might eventually turn sportswashing’s stall into a breakdown.
Edited by: Jonathan Harding
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