The Corrupt Game

The Corrupt Game

 

Today I am going to break from what the first two entries of this blog have brought. We have talked largely about “American” football. Today however, I would like to talk about a very pressing issue in the world of the “other” football: soccer. Last week and this week the world of soccer has been in the international break- a period of time where club soccer largely stops to allow the top players to participate in matches for their national teams. Without question, this international break has been a serious one on many levels. European Championship preparation, World Cup Qualifying, and some high-profile friendlies have all been taking place. The sporting world is beginning to look forward. We are, hopefully, beginning to move forward into some sort of normalcy soon after seeing the sports world largely re-shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic. As we do though, problems that existed in the pre-pandemic world will once again take center stage. Today we will look at one major problem in sports as we will take a look at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, likely the most controversial sporting event in history.

            To begin their World Cup Qualifying campaign against Gibraltar, Norway- under pressure from some back home- wore shirts prior to kickoff claiming that human rights must always be respected. Later, four-time World Cup winners Germany, before their opening match against Iceland, also held a pre-match demonstration in support of human rights. Those who are not keen followers of the sport may not be incredibly likely to understand what would inspire high-paid soccer players chasing the dream of playing in the World Cup to make such profound statements. The answer comes in spite of the grandeur promised by the Middle Eastern nation of Qatar, the host of next year’s World Cup. The real answer lies in just how this small Persian Gulf nation plans to stage the most shared human experience on the planet and it is bound to shock and, perhaps, disgust many.

            Qatar is a small, oil-rich, Middle Eastern nation that is amongst the wealthiest countries per capita. One could also count Qatar as being amongst the most ambitious. Qatar started massive building projects, attempting to give its capital city, Doha, a skyline that could rival that of New York City, Chicago or Los Angeles- just on a smaller scale. But in spite of the fact that Qatar is one of the world’s wealthiest nations the country has a serious shortage of laborers. The Qatari population sits at just over 2.8 million. When the first ball is kicked in November 2022, Qatar will become the smallest nation geographically to host the global finals. Nevertheless, Qatar persisted.

            In December of 2010, Qatar sold FIFA- quite literally- on the idea of the most expensive World Cup in history. Stadiums, hotels, highways, training facilities and even entire communities built were going to be built from scratch for the World Cup. In spite of the massive undertaking that was ahead, FIFA elected to bring the biggest event in global sport to the Middle East for the first time. But in order to execute its goals, Qatar needed the help of a series of dirty secrets. The most of shocking of these tactics was how the nation attempted to compensate for the serious labor deficiencies the country would face.

            Qatar has been importing scores of migrant workers with the intention of getting free labor from them.

            Qatari businesses contracted to the construction sites that will host millions from around the world in just under two years’ time sent recruiters to various nations throughout the Middle East and South Asia. They specifically sought out countries where workers often are not given high wages such as India, Bangladesh and Nepal. These recruiters promise workers higher salaries in Qatar. In exchange, these migrant workers have to take out large loans to acquire visas, passports and other necessary forms of documentation and for their transportation to Qatar. On the surface, that may not sound so bad. But in practice, the promises of good living conditions as well as earning higher wages, do not actually happen.

            A report from the British Newspaper the Guardian composed a scathing story that would call into question the integrity of world soccer’s governing body. The report gives detailed stories from migrant workers that gave insight to how things actually are.

            The life of a migrant worker in the wealthy nation is not what would be seen on brochures and advertisements and it is not what would be described by the recruiters.

            Migrant workers normally have to leave their families behind. They are promised the opportunity to send money back home which will help pay off the debts that they have now accrued and give their families a better life. Unfortunately, most are not given such an opportunity. Tragically, many have seen their homes for the final time.

            Workers arrive in Qatar with high hopes. But their dreams are quickly dashed.

            Upon their arrival, migrant workers report having their passports and visas confiscated by their managers, reducing them to the status of “undocumented”. In some more dramatic cases, documentation and contracts are ripped up and thrown away. Quality housing while completing their work is promised to the men, but as they get settled in, the workers realize that promise has faded away into what amounts to punishment; hope quickly turns in to a cruel reality. ESPN cameras were rolling as they documented the atrocious living conditions of the workers.

            The workers are herded into what can be described as housing camps. Multiple workers are forced to share small bedrooms. The cameras showed where workers had situated their mattresses on the floor of their rooms. The rooms were largely uncarpeted with electrical wires dangerously exposed. Sanitation standards in the camp were shown to have been very poor.

            But these conditions only play a part in the health problems that workers wind up suffering.

            The World Cup is traditionally held in the summer time. However, Qatar is a nation that experiences summertime heat that would make a competition in the World Cup’s usual timeslot unsuitable. That was not enough for FIFA though. The governing body of world football instead opted to have the tournament moved to the winter time. For most nations this creates a scheduling inconvenience for fans, teams and broadcasters. But for the workers building this tournament, the work goes on through the summer oppressive heat, regardless. These conditions only exacerbate the health problems for the migrant workers. Accusations of employees being overworked, not being given enough breaks and, crucially, not receiving enough water, have run rampant since the Guardian made their initial report. Couple these malpractices with the routinely excessive heat that the region experiences and workers are left in appalling conditions.

            The Guardian’s initial report suggested that many workers died under these conditions. But a report from the same organization put this issue into a much more disturbing perspective.

            Citing data compiled from all the nations whose expatriates are working in Qatar, the Guardian now reports that, at least, approximately 6,500 migrant workers have died in Qatar since the country was awarded hosting rights. That data only runs through December of 2020, leaving the mind to wonder just how many have suffered the same fate between then and now.

            This data would mean that about twelve migrant workers per week have died from 2010 to 2020. That statistic left me wondering how many more- at the current rate- will perish before the opening match.

            At the current rate, over nine hundred more workers will lose their lives as Qatar puts the final touches on its World Cup preparations.

            The ripping up of contracts allows for companies to pay their employees whatever they please, not what was actually agreed upon. As a result, the companies pay their employees very little, and in some cases, nothing.

            All of that being said, the question that many may wonder is how we got to this point? How could this be allowed to happen?

            The answer is simple: money and corruption.

            In 2015, members of FIFA’s Congress and Executive Committee were getting ready to hold an annual meeting of the FIFA Congress in Switzerland. It may have been an ordinary occurrence in football’s everyday proceedings, had it not been for a raid conducted by Swiss authorities. As it turned out, they were acting on the behalf of the American FBI.

            The U.S. levied a wide-array of charges against some of FIFA’s highest-ranking officials. The charges ranged from fraud to racketeering.

            The main accusations included fixing games and bribery when awarding hosting and broadcasting rights for FIFA competitions. In particular focus were the bribery allegations regarding the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding processes.

            In 2010, FIFA relied on its Executive Committee to vote and award rights to host its tournaments. At the time this committee consisted of only eight individuals plus then-FIFA President, Sepp Blatter, who held on to his power by not facing any term limits to his presidency. Often when it came time for re-election, Blatter ran un-opposed.

            It has been alleged that these individuals accepted large bribes from the Qatari bid team in exchange for supporting their bid. While such claims have never been fully proven, suspicious activities have never fully been avoided by those involved. The 2015 investigation involved many of FIFA’s higher-ups and caused their removal. In spite of Blatter winning an actually contested re-election bid, days later he succumbed to public pressure and resigned. For his role in FIFA’s corruption, Blatter was handed a six-year ban from all football-related activities, a ban that was just recently extended.

            FIFA revamped its entire World Cup process to include all of its over two hundred member nations. This helped lead to the successful joint bid from the United States, Mexico and Canada that will bring the World Cup final to U.S. soil in 2026. FIFA has promised greater transparency and has shown far more tolerance for demonstrations like those that were seen recently from the Norwegians and the Germans.

            In spite of all of that, FIFA still showed its reluctance to be transparent regarding the Qatar 2022 inquests.

            In 2014, the organization hired an independent ethics investigator to look into the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding processes. However, upon the investigation’s conclusion, FIFA released only an abbreviated version of the report, leaving many to speculate what was left out. Only in 2017, did FIFA finally make the full version of this report available to the public.

            FIFA’s main sponsors such as McDonald’s, Adidas, Coca-Cola, Hyundai and others ignored calls to pressure the organization into doing something about the situation in Qatar. Only recently has FIFA even hinted at acknowledging that the decision was a mistake.

            Taking all of this into account, what is the way to fix this? Unfortunately, after reviewing things I cannot help but think that is too late to change something.

            To still hold the World Cup on time almost certainly means that it has to remain in Qatar. Even moving the tournament elsewhere, or even cancelling it, would serve as punishment to the Qatari people.

            FIFA has put itself in a corner.

            Now fans, media, coaches, employees and players are tasked with a moral dilemma. If their nation qualifies, will attending the World Cup be the right thing to do? That will be a major question between now and November of 2022.

            But, for now, perhaps the best way to end this entry is with two further questions.

            How much did FIFA officials know? The bigger question is could they have prevented this extremely tragic situation?

            That answer is one that the world may never actually get.