Tomorrow, an estimated five billion football enthusiasts will tune in to watch the opening match of the FIFA World Cup taking place in Doha, a first for a Middle Eastern country.
Football is the Middle East’s most popular sport and is interwoven into Middle Eastern society. While it is beyond the scope of this article to elaborate on football’s rich history in this region, it is important to note that since its introduction during the reign of the Ottoman Empire to its increasing popularity during the British dictate, football was both an arena of cooperation and enmity. This year many people are eagerly awaiting the match between the US and Iran which of course, includes the weight of more than 20 years of animosity between the two states.
The Qatar World Cup will mark several firsts. It is the first time a World Cup has been held in an Arab and Muslim-majority country. The first time the Cup has been held in winter (the original plan to hold the games during the 47-degree heat of the Qatar summer had to be abandoned). The official match ball, the Al Rihla, is the world’s first football made with water-based inks and glues. And, most importantly, it is the first time that the World Cup has been used as such a centerpiece of a vast development project — the Qatar Vision 2030.
Until the 1990s, Qatar was just another Gulf state producing modest amounts of oil. Now, however, it is one of the world’s wealthiest nations owing to its vast natural gas reserves. Since winning the bid to host the World Cup in 2010, Qatar has spent more than $250 billion on football-related development and has completed nearly $300 billion infrastructure projects in this regard. Among other facilities, these include seven new stadiums, 100 new hotels, roads, a new metro system linking the stadiums, a new airport, hospitality centres and shopping malls. The organisers have also maintained that Muslim tradition be respected and have taken steps which include designated drinking areas for ticket holders before and after (but not during) each game and restrictions on skin revealing attire. To provide security for the World Cup, the Gulf state has recruited guards from foreign armed forces and security contractors. On the special request of the Qatar government, Pakistan is the only country to have deployed soldiers to Doha.
Sustainability is at the heart of Qatar’s National Vision and Stadium 974 — the first temporary venue in FIFA history mirrors this. It is the world’s first fully demountable covered football stadium, made entirely of 974 recycled shipping containers and modular steel. After the World Cup, the containers will be reused.
Safe to say, FIFA 2022 embodies the objectives of Qatar’s national rejuvenation plan and is a classic example that modernisation, reform and rapid development can be achieved if energies are focused on a broader goal.
Needless to say, every project has its carpers and critics. Ever since it won the right to host the World Cup, Qatar has been deemed a controversial choice and some have claimed that Qatar had ‘bought’ the tournament and is trying to sports-wash its human-rights record. Human-rights groups have decried the treatment of foreign workers and poor handling of World Cup and sports-related incidents. Even though it has yet to meet international standards, Qatar has taken significant steps to address the concerns of human rights and labour organisations such as liberalising its kafala labour regime; introducing the region’s first minimum income wage; enhancing workers’ rights; and improving working conditions.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino has said that the FIFA 2022 will help dispel some of the misconceptions that still exist about the Middle East. Of course, the litmus test of Qatar’s sports strategy will be whether the World Cup will help Qatar replicate its geopolitical success.
That said: let the games begin.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 19th, 2022.
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