How on Earth did Qatar Win? ⚽
Qatar becomes the smallest and the first middle eastern country to host the FIFA world cup 💸
Welcome to Rubric's Newsletter
We share a weekly email newsletter talking about some unconventional topics and keynotes that makes a lot of noise on the internet.
Sign up to experience the best-curated content here!!
Let's go back to December 2, 2010, and The International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) gathered in Zurich to announce which country would host the 2022 FIFA world cup.
The United States, England, Netherlands+Belgium, Australia, and Qatar are all holding bids. Sepp Blatter (President of FIFA) goes on stage and announces "The 2022 FIFA world cup will be in Qatar"...
What?? 😲
Where on the map is Qatar?? 🤔
Do they have a football team??
The country that never qualified for the FIFA world cup and had only one major city and football stadium at the time of bid in 2010 will be hosting the biggest sporting event in the world in 2022.
Some say "It is the worst decision made by the sporting organizations".
Let's discuss this in detail...
Why does Qatar want it so badly?
Qatar is a small nation with dunes all around it. It is just 188 km long and 85 km wide. The country is Super Rich. They have one of the highest per capita incomes in the world. Purely relying on Petroleum and Natural Gas, they have the third-largest natural gas reserve and are the second-largest exporter of it. Qatar knows that it can not solely rely on fossil fuels. Hence they have started diversifying their economic portfolio outside the energy sector. They are investing heavily in Tourism, Media (Al-Jazeera), Real-estate, Airlines (Qatar Airways), and whatnot.
But Why FIFA??
FIFA is the biggest sporting event in the world. The record says that around 1.1 billion people watched the 2018 FIFA world cup final.
Yes, 1.1 billion people
The idea is to be the Soft-Power of the world. Every nation will be watching what you will be showing to them for one month, Isn't this a superpower?
For a nation to become a tourist hub, this is a golden opportunity.
The world is looking at you.
But how come this hot country with no history in football and no infrastructure at all won the bid?
Qatar to go All-IN 🎰
Which country will host the FIFA world cup is decided by 24 people from across the world representing different football organizations. The country with the most votes wins.
When the power boils down to only these men, the countries try to exploit them. They offer them bribes, threats, and what not to have their vote. Not to our surprise, FIFA is corrupt to its core. Not only Qatar, but the countries before Qatar (Russia, South Africa, and Germany) have also used these malpractices to flip the vote in their favor. Qatar went to the extreme. They have alleged to bribe more than 10 officials out of 24.
Qatar won the bid.
Now comes the biggest challenge to building the infrastructure in just ten years from scratch.
World Cup of shame 😔
Qatar had to build a lot of infrastructure in terms of hotels, metros, stadiums, etc. They only had a single football stadium when they won the bid. They hired around 2 million (20 lakhs) migrant laborers from South Asia and Africa. The laborers were asked to live in the corner of the city, they were asked to work tirelessly in 50 degrees without a day off. They were not paid on time, their passports were taken by construction companies, and no public facilities were provided to them. They were in misery.
It is estimated that more than 6500 migrant workers have died in the last 10 years in Qatar.
Nevertheless, Qatar succeeded in building 12 brand new air-conditioned football stadiums, metros across the country, and hotels in the country on time.
Thank You!!
Until Next time
Tittle-Tattle
FIFA had its headquarters in Zurich so that they can have easy transactions of bribes in Swiss banks
Saudi Arabia is bidding for the FIFA world cup 2030
It is said that Qatar buying PSG (Paris Saint Germain) was also a part of some deal to turn one vote in favor of Qatar.
Qatar FIFA World Cup brand ambassador is David Beckham who is considered to be the Gay Icon.
FIFA is not ruled by 24 folks anymore, now it's a parliament of around 200 people.
Ciao
Nishchal from Team Rubric