FIFA World Cup 2022 is only just a week away. The most watched sporting spectacle in the world is eagerly anticipated once every 4 years. This year's world cup however is tainted, right from the host country's bidding process, to its human rights abuses, to its questionable laws, which has in turn led to accusations of sportswashing. 

But before we proceed, what is sportswashing?

Sportswashing is a term used to describe the practice of individuals, groups, corporations, or governments using sports to improve reputations tarnished by wrongdoing. Sportswashing can be accomplished through hosting sporting events, purchasing or sponsoring sporting teams, or participating in a sport.

FIFA has been heavily criticised for holding the WC in Qatar

This small, oil-rich country's nomination was debatable before the envelope was even opened. 

In the international game, Qatar had no genuine prior experience.

 There are only 2.8 million people living there. It is located on an Arabian Sea peninsula that is dotted with enormous sand dunes and salt ponds. It is one of the wealthiest nations thanks to fossil fuels. 

When the World Cup is often hosted in June and July, the per capita summer temperatures in Doha regularly reach 45 degrees or higher, which is obviously not ideal for the players or the fans. 

As a result, it was decided to transfer the event to November and December, when the weather is often more bearable in the mid-20s.

Ex-FIFA President Sepp Blatter announcing Qatar as the host of World Cup 2022

While it might not seem like a major concern, this has a significant impact on professional league schedules all over the world, particularly in Europe, where 13 of the 32 World Cup teams are from.

A change in playing schedules, according to the former head of the German Football Federation, continues to have an impact on lower levels because of the connection to promotion and relegation. He claimed that the game pyramid was in jeopardy. 

Germans aren't the only ones, either. The UEFA Champions League qualifying matches will begin in November. 

Both the Spanish La Liga and the Italian Serie A will prolong their seasons into June. This six-week break from the English Premier League is not good for either individual or group performance. 

Europe's top 5 leagues have had to change their schedules to accommodate the first ever winter world cup

According to one commenter, the very fact that 

the schedule has to be moved across so many timelines should be enough of an argument that the WC should not have been held in Qatar in the first place. 

In the meantime, officials in Zurich and at FIFA's headquarters were taking a chance by promising something different for the first World Cup to be held in the Middle East.

For the host nation and the governing body, the growth of the sport is a desirable benefit. However, the winning proposal also included a substantial spending plan. 

Qatar will have spent roughly $220 billion. Think about that for a minute. $220,000,000,000. That exceeds the sums that Brazil, South Africa, and Russia, the previous hosts, combined to spend in 2014, 2018, and 2010.

Furthermore, Qatar's enormous funds would be useful for renovating and building seven brand-new stadiums of the highest calibre even with a modest domestic league. A million spectators can be accommodated thanks to the transportation and infrastructure outside the sites.

The final match will be held in Lusail, which didn't even exist when the bid was made. It is a carefully planned metropolis that is being constructed specifically for the World Cup.

The condition of workers is horrible in Qatar

Only 2.8 million people call the entire nation home - which takes us to the following difficulty: 

finding the manpower required to construct everything. Qatar is dependent on outside labour.

 According to Amnesty International, 90% of the employment in the nation consists of 

1.7 million migrant labourers. Most of these workers are from Nepal, Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan.

Human rights organisations have questioned their working rights circumstances and treatment as a result of the 

Kafala sponsorship-based employment scheme, which had contractually bound employees to their employers.

 Some of their experiences have been documented by Human Rights Watch.

Migrant workers in Qatar live in inhabitable living conditions

A 2021 analysis by The Guardian found that since the World Cup was awarded, at least 6,000 migrant labourers had perished in Qatar.

 The Qatari government rejects that number and maintains that just 37 workers have passed away while working on World Cup stadium building sites, and only three of those deaths were related to their jobs. This is a significant underestimation, according to the International Labor Organization. 

Because Qatar doesn't classify deaths from heart attacks and respiratory failure as work-related, despite the fact that these are frequent signs of heat stroke, which can occur when performing strenuous tasks in hot conditions. 

And even though the competition was moved to Qatar's winter, construction continued year-round, including during the height of summer.

Even though the WC has been moved to the winter, the workers still worked in peak summers

And then there is the issue of gender and gay rights

Despite a commitment to advance gender equality, there is still a 

 The regulations allow men to prevent women from making independent judgments about matters like marriage and travel. 

A same-sex relationship is likewise prohibited. In Qatar, homosexuality is forbidden. 

For gay conduct, people can receive prison time and death sentences under Sharia law, which is hardly the kind of progressive modern image FIFA wants to project at its signature event.

 And the same holds true for well-known brands that participate in pricey sponsorships.

Fans have criticised Qatar's treatment of LGBTQ+ individuals

Josh Cavallo of Australia, the first active male professional football player to come out as gay,

 has concerns about Qatar hosting the World Cup. 

"Yeah, that does worry me because even with the World Cup, if I strive for a chance to play in the tournament and if I receive an honour to go to the tournament at the same time, the laws will conflict".

Josh Carvalho is the first professional footballer to come out as gay

Norway and Germany organised protests using T-shirts that carried slogans in support of human rights during qualifying matches. 

Additionally, the Denmark national jersey will be all-black throughout the competition in honour of one of the construction workers who passed away.

Even before Qatar's bid, allegations of bribery and kickbacks surrounded FIFA. Leading figures connected to the global regulatory organisation have been disgraced and suspended throughout the years. 

Following a dawn raid on a posh hotel in Zurich in 2015, the US Justice Department charged numerous FIFA executives and associates with allegations of racketeering, wire fraud, and money laundering.

Multiple raids were conducted in a Zurich hotel in 2015

And who can forget Mr Sepp Blatter? He resigned shortly after being elected to a fifth term as FIFA's president after serving in that capacity for nearly 17 years. He was being investigated separately in Switzerland for receiving a disloyal payment.

Even a comedian interrupted a press briefing at FIFA headquarters to give the departing president phoney money.

In a viral video 7 years ago, comedian Lee Nelson threw fake notes at Sepp Blatter during a press conference

The US Justice Department later asserted that corruption was engaged in Qatar's World Cup bid in 2020. 

Three FIFA executives were charged with accepting bribes in order to vote for the Gulf state to host the competition. In the end, more than half of the 22 men who voted for Qatar were either suspected or prosecuted with wrongdoing.

Enter David Beckham, the eye-popping wealthy deal face of Qatar, promoting the region's tourism and culture. 

Because he has supported numerous humanitarian initiatives over the years and is also somewhat of a homosexual icon, the former England captain's 200 million US dollar offer to be an ambassador drew criticism.

David Beckham has been heavily criticised for his move

There have been requests for Beckham to utilise his celebrity to raise awareness of social problems in Qatar, but for the time being, he's sticking to his mission.

Even the controversial topic of alcohol has been addressed in a nation with stringent laws about usage. 

Ticket holders will have options outside the stadium grounds before and after a match, but not inside, where there will only be alcohol-free options. The Doha fan zone will be specifically designated for this purpose.

Budweiser has been a major sponsor of the FIFA World Cup

The major question is whether any of these problems will discourage viewers from tuning in. Unlikely. As 32 teams play 64 games over 28 days in Qatar, all eyes will be on that country. FIFA anticipates 5 billion viewers worldwide, up from 3 and a half billion for the previous match in Russia. 

Qatar is by no means the first nation to put on a huge, flashy event while ignoring everything else going on underneath the surface.

It is called "sportswashing," citing instances such as when China had an Uyghur athlete, the Cauldron at the Beijing Winter Olympics, or even the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. 

We cannot discount the reality that this is a first for the Middle East and an opportunity for the globalisation of the global game. We don't yet know for what purpose. But it's a reward that thousands of people who suffered and lost their lives for someone else's sporting concern have made possible.

FIFA World Cup 2022 - Qatar; Corruption, human rights abuses and sportswashing

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