Lesbian, gay, and queer (lesbian) workers are illegal in Qatar, and how did France win the World Cup in 2010?

With this World Cup nearing its grand finale, the brands betting on its success will be focusing on the football and after two consecutive tournament posing geopolitical challenges for global brands to navigate, the association with the product on the pitch seems to be enough, for now, to override the controversies off it.

Sex between men is illegal and can result in three years in prison in the country, and a report from Human Rights Watch last month documented cases of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer (lesbian) people who were arrested by security forces in the country.

The Guardian reported last year that 6,500 South Asian migrant workers have died in Qatar since the country was awarded the World Cup in 2010, most of whom were involved in low-wage, dangerous labor, often undertaken in extreme heat.

The tournament’s sponsors are mainly located in Western Europe and North America, but there are still people who criticize the tournament from their home countries.

The U.S. government would later detail how Qatar won the bid through bribing members of FIFA, soccer’s international governing body. The allegations are not true.

Shortly after France’s supporting vote, for instance, Qatar Sports Investments purchased the Paris Saint-Germain Football Club; around the same time, another Qatari firm bought a piece of Veolia, a French energy and waste company.

The son of the former head of the European football association was hired by a firm connected to the Qatari fund. Népotisme? Zut alors!

Don’t take our word for it. Matt Miller, a former Department of Justice official who traveled with former Attorney General Eric Holder to Zurich to witness the bidding process, told us: “It was the most corrupt thing I’ve ever seen in my career, and I spent a couple years working in New Jersey politics.”

Human Rights in Football: The Role of Soccer in the Era of the 21st World Cup and the End of the World Cup, and How Qatar’s Sporting Culture has Changed

International television crews will not be allowed to shoot in places without the prior authorization of the Qatari authorities. As James Lynch, from London-based human rights group FairSquare, told the Guardian, these “extraordinarily sweeping range of restrictions” would make it very difficult for media to cover any stories not strictly related to games.

It requires making sure that everyone who is watching this tournament knows what is happening in Qatar by the end of it.

Already, there have been some positive steps in this direction. Denmark’s monochrome “protest jerseys” are a powerful statement – and one which has riled up the Qatari government. Germany and Norway wore shirts during the first round of the World Cup that had a message on them.

US Soccer has been silent on the issue, but has quietly supported the #PayUpFIFA campaign. As the world’s richest country, with a major military base in Qatar, America has a particular mandate to champion these values – especially with the current administration’s stated commitment to holding Gulf autocrats accountable.

The English Football Association has been weak in its response. After European football federations promised to call out Qatar with more than “just wearing a t-shirt,” they ended up settling on wearing rainbow armbands, which, quite literally, amount to less than a t-shirt.

All national teams need to step up – and players have a crucial role to play in this effort as well. These athletes are already under a lot of pressure. They’ve probably dreamed about this moment since they were children, and fought so hard to make it happen.

They did not think they’d have to speak about human rights when kicking a football. But there is also a long tradition of athlete activism, from Tommie Smith and John Carlos raising their fists in Mexico City to Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford combating child hunger in the United Kingdom.

This doesn’t mean every player must speak out. But those who do should be supported and amplified – like the Socceroos, Australia’s national soccer team, who called for remediation for workers who have been harmed and the decriminalization of all same-sex relationships in Qatar.

This is more than the World Cup, after all. It’s about whether people who believe in democracy and human rights are going to let authoritarian regimes get away with hijacking the sports we love.

Saudi Arabia is trying to change its image through sports. Russia and Bahrain have tried to do it through Formula One. But if we make a stand against Qatar on the world stage, maybe we can make the next generation of autocrats more worried about a Qatar 2022-style humiliation than thirsty for a Beijing 2008 moment.

Our activism could also change the calculus for FIFA – which might be less inclined to award the World Cup to countries like Qatar if they know that doing so will result in years of boycotts, protests and damaging press.

This matters. Every football fan knows the World Cup is more than just a tournament. It has been compared to a global eclipse which will hit the entire planet at once.

It’s a unique arena where nations can compete fiercely and then shake hands. It’s supposed to represent the best of us – our incredible diversity and our common humanity.

FIFA, OneLove, and the First World Cup: The Political Scenario for the Iranian Football Player’s First Match against England vs. Saudi Arabia

And those controversies did not disappear when the first match kicked off. They lingered throughout the tournament and even became more pointed as Qatari leadership and FIFA officials pushed back on the issues.

Now that the goals have started flying in – including two for Saudi Arabia in their shock victory over Lionel Messi’s Argentina on Tuesday – FIFA will hope the politics will turn into a sideshow, even among viewers morally conflicted at watching their team in such circumstances. There is a risk of a PR debacle for the political subplot.

It turned into a diplomatic spat Tuesday after the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken criticized football players wearing OneLove, an organization dedicated to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer people.

“One of the most powerful things about football, about soccer, is potential to bring the world together,” Blinken told reporters in Doha Tuesday, alongside top Qatari officials.

I am always concerned by any restrictions on freedom of expression. It’s especially so when the expression is for diversity and for inclusion. No one on the football pitch should have to choose between supporting these values and playing for their team.

Briana Scurry, a retired World Cup winning goalie for the US women’s national team, told CNN’s “Newsroom” Tuesday that FIFA had brought on this political storm with its choice of venue for the World Cup.

Iranian players did not sing their anthem in their first game against England because they may have been protesting the suppression of dissent in the Islamic Republic.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/23/world/world-cup-politics-modern-world-analysis/index.html

World Cup 2020: A Time for a New Era in the Developments of Human Rights and the Status of the Emerging Middle East and the Indian Ocean

But discord stirred by this particular tournament, exacerbated by global football chiefs’ questionable PR responses, is offering a prism for geopolitical trends that are shaking old global centers of power at a time when the Western-led liberal order is under an unprecedented challenge.

Football is one sport that is changing because of the power shift. The balance of power in cricket was transferred from England to India because of the fast and furious Indian cricket league, called the “IPL”. Formula One, which rivals football’s international footprint, now sends its 200 mph racers onto multiple Middle East circuits. And Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is trying to bust the dominance of the venerable PGA tour in the US after snapping up golf stars like Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson with massive pay incentives.

The phenomenon is referred to as “sports washing”, in which an authoritarian nation tries to buff up their image despite serious criticism of their political system and human rights performance. China was accused of having a political agenda with the Summer and Winter Olympics it hosted in 2008.

In April 2020,FIFA stated it will provide full cooperation to law enforcement officials investigating such matters, and supports all investigations into alleged acts of criminal wrongdoing regarding either domestic or international football tournaments.

The kerfuffle, meanwhile, over an attempt by the captains of European nations to promote LGTBQ+ issues exemplifies cultural and religious clashes at this World Cup, which are unfolding every day between Western and conservative developing nations and in developed societies that include many migrant communities and diverse creeds and religions.

England, the Netherlands, Belgium, Danes, Germany, Switzerland, and Wales were all going to join the OneLove campaign. If a player gets a second yellow card for a foul, they could be sent off from a match, and that was accused by their governing associations.

In July, a trio of human rights organizations wrote to the corporate partners of the World Cup,urging them to call on the football body to remedy abuses of migrant workers.

I feel that I am Qatari today. I feel like an Arab today. I feel like I’m African. Today I feel gay. I think I feel disabled. Infantino said that he felt a migrant worker today.

The soccer world is not a homogeneous place, but it is an evolution – and why does soccer make a comeback?

The country where homosexuality is banned dismissed claims that it was behind the ban. “Everything that happens on the pitch is a FIFA matter,” a spokesperson for Qatari organizers, Fatma Al Nuaimi, told CNN’s Becky Anderson.

Yet underscoring the selective nature of political protests at sporting events, England skipper Harry Kane, who didn’t wear an armband, joined teammates in taking a knee in a stand against racism before kickoff.

Other leagues, like the NBA, have been more openly supportive of players’ political expression. But it’s a thin line. Basketball has also faced criticism over its lucrative business links to China, which, like Qatar, is known for repression.

The sense that athletes may be held to higher moral standards than their government is also key to the current feud in golf. Critics have slammed top pros for taking cash from Saudi Arabia, whose nationals made up 15 of the 19 hijackers on September 11, 2001. The kingdom is a beneficiary of huge US arms sales and President Joe Biden went there thisyear to seek more oil production to alleviate high gasoline prices.

The tournament will show how far the world has changed. Despite the 1994 World Cup, soccer has not been able to make the cultural leap to become a dominant US pro sport. But the tournament will highlight the hold it has on US immigrant and diaspora communities, an increasingly important political demographic in the country.

Ever since sport went global, it’s always reflected social, cultural and religious trends and conflicts – despite calls from purists for it to remain a safe space from politics. The footballing circus is coming to the States in 2026, which means there will be some new controversy that will be competing for attention.

The first host nation to win the World Cup: Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) in response to concerns from the world’s governing body

Qatar had never previously appeared at a World Cup tournament – let alone staged one – and became the first host nation to lose the opening game of the tournament with a 2-0 defeat against Ecuador on Sunday.

The bidding process faced several obstacles as FIFA flagged concerns in technical reports. Those included a lack of existing infrastructure and the region’s intense heat in the summer, when World Cup tournaments are traditionally held.

Blatter said FIFA amended the criteria it used to select host countries in 2012 in light of concerns over the working conditions at tournament-related construction sites in Qatar.

The US prosecutors considered soccer’s world governing body to be almost hijacked by a group of corrupt individuals, so they gave it victim status.

Human rights organizations have found that since the year 2010, many migrant workers have faced delayed or unpaid wages, forced labor, long hours in hot weather, and employer intimidation because of the country’s sponsorship system.

However, Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) said the health, safety and dignity of “all workers employed on our projects has remained steadfast,” with “significant improvements” made around workers’ rights.

Infantino said in recent days that his organization is working with the International Labour Organization to make sure the World Cup can be used to improve people’s lives.

The country has hosted hundreds of international and regional sporting events since being awarded the World Cup in 2010 and it is committed to an inclusive and discrimination-free event, said the statement sent to CNN.

“I think one can have a very interesting and nuanced debate with LGBTQ people in a country like Qatar and other countries of the [Persian] Gulf. They discuss what might lead to freedom for them in this location. And at the same time, they’re also very clear that they don’t want it imposed from the outside, that they don’t feel that some of the messages that were coming from the western media, the criticism that was being made of the Qatari government, they didn’t think that was going to be helpful at all.

The Born Again: Soccer in a Muslim Country during the 2011 World Cup and the Legacy of a Day in the Life: The Case for the Middle East

Perhaps the most obvious sign that this World Cup is different to most has been the decision to stage it in November and December, rather than June and July as is the norm.

The switch was necessitated by the warm weather of the summer months in Qatar, where temperatures are projected to rise above the 30 degrees Celsius mark this week.

Originally, football fans would be able to buy beer at matches – a significant concession in a Muslim-majority country where alcohol is tightly controlled. But then, there was the 11th hour “Bud ban.”

The legacy of this World Cup is likely to be complex and controversial, even though it will be time before there is a definitive answer.

Some 6,000 kilometers away, on the east side of London, Youssef Mohamed stared wide eyed at the screen. The six-year-old son of a former football player at the academy that he now runs saw a difference in the Hakimi team. He saw a Muslim footballer defiantly proud of who he was, and for a young boy grappling with matters of identity still unclear to him, saw himself.

Those moments unwritten from the pages of history are often simply missing a stage. A new type of stage was being set for the game between Spain and Morocco, which will take place on Tuesday in the Middle East. The World Cup was being held in the middle of a Muslim nation. Authors dressed in red jerseys were about to write history with their feet rather than their hands.

Mosques stood tall beside state of the art stadiums, making for a mise en scne the World Cup had never seen before.

As Morocco stormed through the tournament, winning its group and then notching knockout stage wins over traditional European powers Spain and Portugal, fans in Qatar wrapped in all things red and green made the term “cheering” seem way too tame. They were singing. They chanted. They whistled at the opposition – have you ever heard 50,000 people whistling? The ears are still ringing.

They gravitated toward it by faith, and in response to an Islamophobia that has been fully and fervently global. New crusades spawned by two decades of a so-called War on Terror found a defiant rebuttal upon the unlikely stage of a football field.

“I just knew that they were going to win,” Hassan told me later. I had that very feeling as my plane descended into Qatar’s capital hours earlier, before rushing frantically toward the stadium to catch the remaining minutes of the second half, donning the very same Moroccan shirt that painted the stadium red and later claimed victory atop the green at its center.

It was, from start to finish, a spiritual experience. Thousands of fans waved and whistled, paraded and prayed inside the stadium, joined by millions of Muslims from banlieues in Paris and lounges in Rabat, and living rooms in Spain.

I wanted to see it and feel it. Sensing that something bigger than football was at play as time stopped and the two teams prepared for penalty kicks.

Morocco’s Atlas Lions defeated Spain in the first World Cup football tournament in the 19th century. FIFA’s FIFA World Cup sponsors are FIFA partners

The Moroccan team dropped to their knees in prayer, again, in the center of a new football stage where Islam was neither fringe nor marginal, deviant nor dangerous.

Bona fide stars like Ziyech and Hakimi, who play for the biggest European clubs, Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain, alongside virtual unknowns yet to make their football names. They prayed together as a team, repeating the Quran’s opening verse, “Al Fatiha,” which states that no matter their station in life, all believers are equal.

Moroccan goalkeeper Yassine Bounou, or “Bono,” stopped kicks from Spain’s Carlos Soler and Sergio Busquets, supported by a different “Hand of God” as Spain’s Pablo Sarabia’s strike ricocheted off the post.

Hakimi stood with his head bowed. He raised his eyes toward the goal and history. The eyes of Muslims all over the world, old and young, locked in on the Moroccan star.

Chinua Achebe wrote that until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always be a celebration of the hunter. The Atlas Lions won the hearts of Muslims around the world with their new brand of historians.

FIFA divides its tournament sponsors into three tiers – “partners” composed of Coca-Cola, Adidas, Visa, Wanda, Qatar Airways, Qatar Energy and Hyundai Kia; “World Cup sponsors,” including Budweiser, McDonald’s, Mengniu Dairy and Hisense; and “regional supporters.”

During the closing conference, Infantino failed to commit to a compensation fund, when he was asked if the governing body would share its earnings from the tournament.

The impact of international consumer brands on human rights violations during the FIFA World Cup 2014 ”The case of an Asian” ambassador, Samuel Beckham, head of sports at SKEMA

Beckham’s brand is arguably as recognizable as many multinationals. Beckham has endorsements with several companies, including Adidas, the Tudor watch brand and his own whiskey brand, Haig Club. Beckham is also part of the ownership team at MLS soccer club Inter Miami.

When you engage in a sponsorship or an endorsement role, I think it carries with it a high level of political risk, according to Simon Chadwick, professor of sport and geographical economy at SKEMA Business School.

The brands associated with these countries have consumer bases all over the world, giving consumers with differing freedom of speech a platform to criticize human rights issues.

The marketing teams within these big global brands will only consider the split of their customers in Western Europe or North America as an example of a part of that. BenPeppi, head of sports services at JMW Solicitors, says they would have gone into the tournament knowing that.

The globalization of Asian consumer brands was a factor in the shift towards companies from outside of Western Europe and North America.

During Pride month, some brands sponsoring the World Cup drape their logos in rainbow flags and run inclusive campaigns in support of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual (LGBT) people.

Meanwhile, German supermarket chain Rewe ended its partnership with the German Football Association after FIFA’s decision to punish players wearing “OneLove” armbands that aimed to promote inclusivity.

But aside from these examples – notably taken by national team sponsors rather than tournament sponsors – companies have remained relatively quiet during this month-long competition, one of the biggest, most lucrative events in sport.

The World Cup is one of the most valuable things in sport and it is extremely tightly controlled and governed, as a result.

Four of the tournament’s sponsors stated their support for a monetary compensation to migrant workers and their families who suffered death or injury, wage theft or debt from illegal recruitment.

The Supreme Committee for the Delivery of the World Cup, as well as the International Labor Organization (ILO), international human rights and labor advocacy groups and trade unions, have been engaged by Adidas to improve the human rights situation. The establishment of an independent ILO office as a local monitoring body has been achieved and the rights of migrant workers have been strengthened.

Coca-Cola said in a statement to CNN that “it has played an instrumental role in the creation of the FIFA Human Rights Advisory Board, the first such entity created by a global sports governing body.”

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/17/football/brands-sponsors-david-beckham-world-cup-2022-spt-intl/index.html

The McDonald’s Global Marketing Campaign During World Cup 2018: David Beckham, Executive Director, General Manager and CEO, Jon Lycett

David Beckham is a former player who has taken a role as an ambassador. Beckham was put under scrutiny last month by British comedian Joe Lycett, who challenged the widely held assumption that the former England captain is an ally of the LGBTQ community.

He is trying to get attention from decision makers and financiers that are involved in elite professional sport around the world. What he’s interested in is making sure that his [Inter Miami] franchise in the United States is financially sustainable.”

Beckham’s spokesperson told CNN via a statement Friday that: “David has been involved in a number of World Cups and other major international tournaments both as a player and an ambassador and he’s always believed that sport has the power to be a force for good in the world.”

McDonald’s committed to the LGBTQ+ community by producing Pride cups, while Adidas produced a rainbow clothing range and Bud Light said that they supported the journey of the queer community. Not just during Pride Month, but every year as well.

Adidas supports unrestricted access for all, regardless of religion, sexual orientation, or ethnic background, according to a statement to CNN. We expect the World Cup to be accessible to all visitors. If there are any infringements, we are pursuing the matter.”

The world soccer governing body claims this World Cup has drawn a record-breaking television audience because of the storylines that have unfolded on the pitch from Saudi Arabia’s shock victory over Argentina and Messi’s quest for a World Cup trophy to Morocco’s historic run to the semifinals.

McDonald’s launched its “largest global marketing campaign ever” to coincide with the World Cup, according to its Global Chief Marketing Officer.

On the day of the World Cup, FIFA said it had sold out all sponsorship tiers, and that the tournament was backed by a full quota of Partners, Sponsors and Regional Supporters.

The Human Rights Controversy in the Construction of Qatar: The Work of a Major League Soccer Player in the Era of the World Cup

For years, rights groups have fought to expose the treatment of migrant workers who transformed the city into it’s current state.

“I’ve had so many times when I turned on the maps, they didn’t know where I was going, and it was impossible to get to,” said Qadri of the human rights charity Equi. Everything has changed in a matter of minutes.

For the last dozen years, Qadri has spent considerable amounts of time in Qatar, working to help those whose work created that change. Qadri says that Equidem has used the workers themselves in gathering stories.

He said that the research was carried out by migrant workers from Africa and Asia. They’re not people we bring in as volunteers. They’re actually professional staff. That’s a major part of what we are trying to do, which is to give a voice to the people who don’t have a voice. Being part of our team can give them empowerment and ownership.

In this capacity, migrant laborers were employed to interview more than 2000 workers who built stadiums and hotels for the World Cup.

The interviews revealed that there were problems, such as workers not being paid or not reporting unfair working conditions for fear of losing their jobs. And Qadri says, some described employer attempts to cover things up by hiding the workers from labor inspectors.

“For example, at job sites, they would use a fire alarm to scare workers and make them gather around at their points,” Qadri said, “and buses them out of the stadium construction sites before inspectors could visit them.”

The other major human rights controversy that preceded and ran through this event was the treatment of thousands of migrant workers who essentially built the World Cup.

In it, Qadri offers to share the worker interviews his researchers gathered, and he makes three requests: 1). There is a compensation fund for migrant workers, and families of workers killed, injured or otherwise abused in the delivery of this World Cup that will be created by football’s governing body. Qadri believes that a Migrant Workers Center would be a safe place for workers to get help if they need it, because of FIFA’s influence. And 3. That FIFA works “with Qatar and expert agencies around the world to break down the systems that allowed a celebration of sport to bear such a terrible impact on the lives of so many vulnerable people.”

Qadri is worried, as are others who sounded the alarm on human rights during the World Cup, that with the show now over and TV cameras and reporters pivoting away from Qatar, things actually could get worse.

Powar said there was a lot of fear over the possibility that the Qatari regime may bring back some measures that would be against the community. A squad within the Interior Ministry is used to identify members of the LGBTQ community, to conduct sting operations, and to bring them into custody if they choose to do so.

Powar says this fear prompted many in the LGBTQ community to go quiet during the World Cup. Many also supported the government’s position against the rainbow flag, as a way not to provoke the feared backlash.

“They understand the risks of moving too quickly, and they don’t always have an answer when someone asks what the best spot is for the change,” Powar said. They don’t believe it’s the waving of the rainbow flag.

People are very clear. They’re very intelligent. They have these positions worked out. And in the end, I think it comes back to the same point – that they acknowledge that they’re repressed and they want freedom.”

“Positive memories” is what Powar says is created by a big sporting event. [And] at the same time, its impact will also be fairly fleeting in terms of what one can achieve through it. I believe that we are always fighting a rear guard battle to make sure that the considerations of human rights are always second to an event like this.

The country is in a good position to host future sporting contests if the event is a success, early grades are good, and fans are happy. But if it does, Qadri says, the standards to host may be different, considering the controversies that shared the stage with soccer.

“There are so many issues in any area of the globe, but the societies that have been successful have been those that have recognized that greater rights and freedoms, greater diversity and celebrating that actually lead to a more robust society, a stronger society, one that can thrive in difficult environments,” Qa

“The difference with Qatar is it has a stable government. There are no elections there [for the highest ruling positions]. They can think this through. They can plan longer term. The other thing is that if there were espresso in the country, it would make it stand out from the crowd.

He says it is a journey, but one worth taking. And as many turn their gaze away from a tiny Gulf nation that became huge for a month, Qadri, Powar and others will keep watching and fighting. And hoping an event that claimed to unite the world, can start moving a host country toward changing its world.

The best World Cup ever: what he said during his pre-tournament briefing on the field of his victory in Kuwait (Nato)

The president of the World Cup organization usually starts the tournament by saying that it will be the best World Cup ever. The leader of the world governing body, Infantino, said that during his pre-tournament briefing at the Kuwait National Convention Centre late last month.

But the competition on the field was stellar. From the surprises, shocks and upsets in the group stages to the excitement of the knockout rounds – and arguably the best final ever – this World Cup has excelled.

Lionel Messi has been unable to win a trophy in his lengthy career, but that changed with Argentina’s victory over the defending champion.

Controversies stuck to this World Cup from the moment, in 2010, when then-FIFA president Sepp Blatter opened an envelope and announced the voting result for the 2022 tournament.

Searing heat in the Persian Gulf nation during the World Cup’s traditional summer slot. There is no facilities or infrastructure. A conservative, autocratic government.

The biggest stir was created by the controversy over the fact that a conservative autocracy welcomed more than a million visitors from western countries.

Host country decisions have been the subject of some debate since it was decided that the World Cup will be hosted by Brazil. Powar says that there was a more liberal stance on the rainbow colors issue by the football confederation, but it was not enough to prevail.

“We are defending human rights,” Infantino said, without explaining how that statement squared with the controversies that stuck to what he called, the best World Cup ever.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/12/19/1143835164/2022-world-cup-qatar

What was the shock of the World Cup? The surprise of the big upset: Saudi Arabia vs. Italy in the first tournament with a football player besides Messi

The biggest surprise of the tournament, arguably, came on the third day in group play. Saudi Arabia shocked Argentina 2-1 in one of the greatest World Cup upsets ever. Messi is one of the finest players of all time, but has never won a World Cup. If you missed it, you can listen to the NPR series Last Cup which tells Messi’s life story. But the opening loss to Saudi Arabia ended up being just a speed bump. Argentina won the group, advanced through the knockouts and won the final.

Another surprise came in the middle of the tournament – before a game. Portugal coach Fernando Santos shocked the sporting world when he didn’t put star Cristiano Ronaldo in the starting lineup for the last two Portugal matches. This was the first World Cup in which the 37 year old has not been his usual dominant self.

The US makes this list as well. After failing to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, the U.S. returned and did not lose a game in group play – and made it to the knockout round. But it would be another early exit with a round of 16 loss to the Netherlands.

The early exits (and, in some cases, very early exits) of traditional European powerhouses shocked many a soccer/football fan. Belgium didn’t even make it out of group play. Portugal, Spain and Germany all bowed out … and Italy didn’t even make this tournament. The biggest surprise of the tournament, Morocco, is below.

The Mohammed VI Football Academy was opened 13 years ago. The multi-million dollar investment appears to have worked out in the end.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/12/19/1143835164/2022-world-cup-qatar

Remembering the World Cup Reporter: Ethiopia’s first women referees and the first American journalist who died during a World Cup semifinal

And an indication that while what happened at this tournament didn’t quite take down the sport’s world order, it represented plates shifting underneath.

Morocco, with this team and a growing pipeline, is positioned to prove Qatar wasn’t a one off. Traditional soccer outsiders are going to be inspired by the next World Cup, which is going to triple from 32 teams to 48. Getting inside isn’t impossible, as long as there is planning and work.

There’s always a complaint about the refs, which include “no way was that offside,” and “that wasn’t a foul.” At this World Cup, referees made news for another reason. The first women officials were at the men’s tournament. Six women – including Kathryn Nesbitt of the U.S. — officiated both on and off the field. And, an all-female crew, officiated the Germany/Costa Rica match.

It’s not a foregone conclusion that the World Cup will be Messi wearing an Argentina uniform, or Luka Modri wearing a red and white checkerboard for Croatia. For decades they each have shined for their countries at many, many tournaments and given countless fans joy (and sometimes heartbreak).

We also say goodbye to the three journalists who died while covering this World Cup. American sportswriter Grant Wahl — perhaps the preeminent U.S. soccer reporter — collapsed during the Argentina-Netherlands quarterfinal. An autopsy determined that he died from a burst blood vessel. ITV sports director Roger Pearce “passed away suddenly” last month and Qatari photojournalist with Al Kass TV, Khalid al-Misslam, “died suddenly” earlier this month.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/12/19/1143835164/2022-world-cup-qatar

World Cup 2026: The U.S., Mexico, and Canada ‘next-to-leading’ goal – What will we learn if FIFA wins?

The U.S., Mexico, and Canada will host the next World Cup in 2026. As mentioned earlier, FIFA is expanding the number of teams from 32 to 48. It’s not clear yet how the tournament will be organized or the format used to advance.

The tournament will be hard to top in 2022. We think that the World Cup will be the best ever in four years.