From holding the Winter Olympics in Beijing to excluding Russian and Belarusian athletes from international competitions after the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the year 2022 would be a textbook case with which to demonstrate the political nature of sport. One event has provoked the fiercest debate: the FIFA World Cup, to be hosted by Qatar from November 20 to December 18. The grievances against the host nation of one of the world's most watched sporting events are endless: suspicions of corruption in the awarding process, denial of human rights, ecological disaster...
France and Germany
For several weeks now in France, one question has dominated conversation among football fans: should we give up watching this World Cup to show our disapproval? As Les Bleus prepare to defend their title in Qatar, major cities in France including Paris, Lille and Marseille have decided not to broadcast the games in public. The same decision has been made in many places on the other side of the Rhine, including Berlin. Several bars in Germany are opting not to show the games either, using the hashtag #keinkatarinmeinerkneipe ("No Qatar in my bar") as a rallying cry on social networks.
Denmark
Their Danish neighbor, likewise, will not be demonstrating the same support as usual. Only between 600 and 800 of the 5,000 tickets allocated to Danish Dynamite fans per game were sold. The Danish Football Association (DBU) has indicated that it will be minimizing its presence in Qatar in protest at its human rights record. "We don't want to help create profit for Qatar," the DBU's head of communications told newspaper Ekstra Bladet on October 4. With this in mind, no one close to the players will be joining them on the trip to the Gulf.
Hummel, the national team's kit supplier, even considered boycotting the competition, arguing that it "did not want to be visible during a tournament that has cost thousands of lives" – a reference to the deaths on Qatar's construction sites, including those of the Cup's venues, which Doha strongly contests. The brand finally opted for a more symbolic approach by producing official shirts in which both their logo and the federation's are blurred. In addition to the two traditional red and white jerseys, a third black one – "the color of mourning" – was designed. However it will not be worn in Qatar, as FIFA regulations allow only two strips per team.
Rainbow armbands and Australian objections
Australia's footballing federation and some of its players were the first participants in the competition to openly criticize the host country. In a video broadcast on October 27, 16 Socceroos took turns to talk about Qatar's human rights record, whether it be the plight of migrant workers or that of LGBTQ+ people in a country where homosexuality is punishable by up to seven years in prison. In protest at the latter, the captains of several European nations, including England, France, Denmark and Germany, will wear rainbow armbands with the message "One Love" during the World Cup.
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