(Warning: Strong languages ahead)
As I'm writing this, we are only 5 days away from arguably the biggest sporting event in the entire world, the FIFA World Cup. For this year's edition, we will travel to the Middle Eastern nation of Qatar, the third ever country from the Continental Asia to host the tournament (the 2002 edition featured Japan and South Korea as co-hosts), and the first host hailing from the Arab nations. I'm all for football and party, but this year, we're not even kicking off yet, there are already concerns about the host nation in particular, on how some of their stances left a sour taste for other countries.
The World Cup is the highest international tournament sanctioned by FIFA (Federation of International Football Association) first held in 1930 with Uruguay acting as the host country, with qualification phases typically began roughly two years after the final match of the previous edition. Since 2002, Each edition features 32 nations competing for football supremacy, although the number are set to increase to 48 when the tournament reopens in 2026, which for the first time ever, hosted together by three countries, being the USA, Mexico, and Canada. Statistically, this world cup is the first for the host nation of Qatar, becoming the first team to host the final tournament without participating in previous edition. This is also the first world cup ever to be hosted by a member country of the Arab League. The last time a world cup was hosted in countries other than Europe, or the Americas was in 2010 by South Africa, the first and only African nation to host the tournament so far. Defending champions, on the other hand, are not exempted from the qualification process. Case in point, the 2018 defending title holders France had to fight their way to a spot in Qatar by placing 1st in their UEFA zone qualification group. There are teams that finally broke their world cup drought, notably Canada and Wales, last qualified in 1986 and 1958 respectively. Italy became the rare case where multiple time winners missed out on two successive tournaments, previously crashed out from Russia 2018. This year, Russia was barred from participating as a result of the ongoing invasion to Ukraine. Prior to this ruling, Russian athletes were banned to enter any competition as Russian representative; they must compete as a neutral athlete or representing their confederations as a sanction for violating the World Anti-Doping Policy. And due to the geographical size of the country, this edition become one such instance in recent history where the venues hosting the matches are less than 10 sites, where there are only 8 stadiums across 5 host cities of Doha, Al Khor, Lusail, Al Rayyan, and Al Wakrah. The first ever tournament in 1930 hosted by Uruguay only featured 3 stadiums in Montevideo, while the most venues across the tournament so far held by Korea-Japan edition in 2002, featuring the massive 20 stadiums across 20 cities between two countries. For the record, 32 teams from across the world are throwing their hats to the ring to become the single best football team in the world, a bragging right everyone is dreaming of.
But the 2022 world cup is not without its fair share of controversy. First off, the schedule. Since its inception in 1930, the biggest international football tournament always takes place in the middle of the year, following the conclusion of the European football season. That was the case back in 2010 in South Africa, 2014 in Brazil, and the recent one in Russia just over 4 years ago. But since Qatar is basically a desert country, with soaring heat that could reach as high as 40-50°C, the tournament was pushed towards the end of the year, with opening night on 20 November 2022 between Qatar VS Ecuador in Al Khor, and the final on 18 December 2022 in Lusail. This created a hell of a nightmare scenario for European based players and teams, as this tournament fells exactly during the middle of the season and pushing almost towards Christmas. As a result, the tournament was crammed from 30 days to just 28. This tournament then is in jeopardy of being overshadowed due to the nature of the tight schedule, as well as balancing world cup football with the ongoing season of club football, with majority of the leagues are only halfway into their respective seasons.
The second, and probably most prevalent, is the Qatari government's stance on LGBT issues. As like many other countries in the Arab world, Qatari laws are heavily based on the Islamic sharia law, which means, any forms of homosexuality or any other alternate sexualities are heavily frowned upon at the very least. It's pretty obvious that homosexuality is considered haram not just in Qatar, but in every country in the Arab world, or even countries which have a substantial Muslim population. Hell, it is actually illegal to exhibit LGBT behavior in Qatari public space, and if Muslims are convicted of homosexuality in Qatar, then death penalty awaits. As a fellow Muslim, I have to say that the decision regarding the laws is up to the government of the host nation, but I guess what the Qatari ambassador for the world cup, Khalid Salman said about respecting the country's laws are spot on. The West are notorious for forcing their rhetoric on other countries, even if same discourse is not in line with the country's way of life. Hell, some teams are planning to wear a rainbow armband for "solidarity" to the community. Hell, there are news that The USA has revealed an alternate version of the team crest, which replaces the red stripes for the rainbow ones, depicting the LGBT Progressive movement. Other grievances are the limitations of alcohol consumptions in public spaces. It has been quite a staple of every world cup that every supporter of every team drinks quite large amount of booze. Countries like Germany and The Netherlands are known as the haven of alcoholic beverages, most notably beer. France is also in the liquor market, although there is a law that prohibits the advertisement of other liquor products like beers. As like many other Muslim countries, alcohol is also practically prohibited per the sharia law. When it comes to the backlash surrounding the gay issues, I say fuck this shit, and just play some soccer, you brain-dead fucks.
The last thing is the working environment en route to the tournament. For the last three years, Qatar has come under fire for alleged slavery, especially during stadium constructions. Allegations included unpaid work, forced labors, unsafe work environment, even withholding their legal documents such as passports and other legal papers. As a result, backlash ensued in light of this revelation. Many of those workers as it turned out, are foreign workers from places like India and Nepal.
But on the bright side, this world cup features extensive technologies, either for the stadium or devices designed to help the match officials in the event of a foul or an incident. The 2022 edition will be only the second edition to feature the Video Assistant Referee (VAR), having been used in the 2018 edition, which produces iconic moments like the one at the 2018 final, when Antoine Griezmann of France scored a tide-shifting penalty in the wake of Croatian Ivan Perisic's handball which was reviewed by VAR. This extra set of match officials are used to review certain scenarios that otherwise would be missed by the on-pitch officials, like offside lines, fouls, mistaken identity, and other fouls that could potentially disallows a goal being scored. During its first introduction, football was the latest sport to utilize video referee of some sort in international tournaments. Other sporting events like the Rugby World Cup has used this system (dubbed the Television Match Official, or TMO) since 2011. Previous technologies used are the goal-line technology, first utilized in Brazil 2014 in the back of the controversy surrounding Frank Lampard's ghost goal against Germany in 2010, which ended up being disallowed. This edition will mark the first usage of the Semi-Automatic Offside Technology (SAOT) designed to assist assistant referees to judge whether a player is caught offside. Both of these technologies involving several cameras placed in strategic locations and several sensors planted inside the match ball. Speaking of the ball, Adidas' new match ball, named Al Rihla (which means "The Journey") has several new technologies like the Speedshell panels designed to improve accuracy by enhancing aerodynamics of the ball itself. The other is what is dubbed as CRT-CORE, which provides speed, accuracy and consistency with fast-paced action and precision.
But the most notable ones being the stadiums themselves. As we all know, Qatar's desert climate means high air temperatures. This is mitigated by installing cooling vents inside every stadium used for the matches. Some stadiums even have retractable roofs to control the climate inside the stadium, reducing the excessive usage of coolant and water used for the cooling system. Other means of technological advancements is the usage of sustainable energy to power the stadiums, this being solar energy. Hell, one stadium in particular, Stadium 974 in Ras Abu Daoud, Doha is the first and so far, the only temporary venue used in FIFA World Cup history, being made from various shipping containers. It was first used at the 2021 FIFA Arab Cup and would be dismantled after the tournament closed its curtains.
The 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar then, is the world cup edition like no other. From the tournament schedule, and all the politics involved behind the scene, this edition of the biggest international football tournament is shaping up to be the most memorable edition in history, all for the reasons people least expected. With all that being said, when Qatar 2022 opens its doors, we will be treated with spectacular football, nonstop action, and memorable scenes from the football pitch. Regardless of what the media said, this world cup is going to be the epitome of world football. Let's enjoy the world cup, and let the good times roll.
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