Highly interesting collection of articles about the Qatar World Cup

Arve Hjelseth
Department of Sociology and Political Science,
Norwegian University of Science and Technology

To large parts of the football world, it came as something of a surprise that Qatar was awarded the 2022 FIFA World Cup, back in 2010. The twelve year-period until it kicked off in late 2022 was characterized by controversy, particularly as seen from the Global North. The necessity of pausing the national leagues for several weeks, the conditions under which the migrant laborers constructing the stadiums were working, and, later, the threats to LGBTQ+ and other marginal communities where high on the agenda in parts of the world. Even (the eventual lack of) access to alcohol during the tournament spurred discussion.

In short, media coverage in the Global North leading up to the World Cup was highly critical, as some of the articles in this volume also demonstrates. Some fans promoted the idea of boycotting the tournament, both in terms of not traveling, as well as in terms of not watching it on TV. A few days before the opening ceremony, media reported on parades by fans from different participating countries. By many, those involved were seen as ‘fake’ fans: They were most likely Qatari people, it was claimed, maybe even instructed by the government or by FIFA to dress up as fans of, say, Argentina or England, with the aim to give the impression that this was like in any other World Cup, but hopefully even better.

While it was likely that many of those celebrating the tournament did not belong to any of the participating countries, few considered the fact that this has been the case for decades. It was far from specific to Qatar. I personally know Norwegians who dressed up in Brazil shirts to watch Brazil play in Germany during World Cup 2006, for example. Last summer, I witnessed several east Asians wearing Portugal shirts during the Portugal vs Slovenia game in Frankfurt. World Cups are simply an arena where people love to pretend and play around with different national identities. Wearing a shirt or cheering for a different team than the one from your own country, is to some extent expected. It makes a lot of fun. Not least, it allows to gather to celebrate a truly global event, more or less regardless of your own nationality.

The authors analyze and discuss various aspects of the World Cup, from sports diplomacy and soft power to human rights and nation branding, as well as the World Cup in a geopolitical perspective.

Although many were critical of different aspects of the Qatar World Cup, the tournament was a success. It was a truly global event. Even if the traditional strongholds of world football, Europe and South America, again accounted for both finalists, other nations also put their mark on the tournament. Morocco was the most notable, as the first African nation to reach a semi-final.

This book consists of 13 chapters and an introduction. The authors analyze and discuss various aspects of the World Cup, from sports diplomacy and soft power to human rights and nation branding, as well as the World Cup in a geopolitical perspective. The editors are affiliated to Qatar University, as are several, though far from all, contributors. The collection of articles is highly interesting and offers perspectives and findings that differ from what an averagely informed scholar from North Europe has previously read about this historic World Cup.

The introduction by the editors is mainly devoted to give an account of the following chapters (pages 4-10), but it also offers a brief note to justify the book. These are, firstly, the history of the decision by Qatar to bid to host the event, secondly, the infrastructural, socio-cultural and political challenges they faced by hosting it, thirdly, the geopolitical issues that the event serves to illustrate, fourthly debates on globalization and localization in the region, and finally main lessons to be learned for future events.

There is no room in this brief review to go into detail of all chapters in this – in many ways – thought-provoking book, but a few words should be offered to illustrate the many various aspects that are discussed. Kristian Coates Ulrichsen digs into the decision to bid for the event. It includes a discussion of alleged wrong doings towards the FIFA Executive Committee in the bidding process, of which he finds limited evidence. He also discusses the critical media coverage in the years after Qatar was awarded the World Cup, a topic many other contributors discuss more in detail.

Simon Chadwick offers a well-written article on the geopolitical economy of the World Cup. He claims that a lesson from Qatar is that as an academic discipline, sport management should be reframed and applied as the outcome of geographic, political and economic factors (page 33). He also includes a post-script, where he discusses some of the harsh criticism of the event. He is probably right to suggest that nations from the Global North have had to – at least partly – capitulate with their demands (on treatment of migrant workers, LGBTQ+ communities, etc.). From the North of Europe, it seemed in the week leading up to the World Cup that it would be subject to widespread boycotts among TV viewers. But in the end, this only applied to a limited proportion of viewers from Scandinavia, Germany, UK and a few other countries.

James M. Dorsey analyses the lessons to be learned for activist groups when the World Cup is hosted by Saudi Arabia in 2034. Ghoncheh Tazmini studies how the World Cup impacted Iran. Attention is paid to, among other things, the issue of female football spectatorship.

Sarah Al Naimi and Thomas Bonnie James analyses the World Cup through the post-colonial narrative. Reports from the British media The Telegraph and The Guardian are the main source of data. This analysis is highly interesting, and I suppose that a closer look would support the main conclusion. However, given the limited scope of this media analysis, which covers only three pages, it is tempting to question to what extent the selection of newspaper articles and comments are based on cherry-picking.

Hazal Muslu El Berni considers the sports diplomacy and foreign policy of Qatar in relation to the tournament. Here, the concept of soft power is at the core. Simona Azzali studies the legacy of Qatar. The World Cup was part of a second urban transformation of Doha, not least intended to diversify the economy. Attracting tourists is a major aim, while at the same time avoid building infrastructures that are left behind after the World Cup. This paper is one of the strongest in this collection.

To a European reader interested in supporter cultures and supporter activism, I found the chapters dealing with the criticism of the World Cup most interesting.

Vadim Kaputskin analyses the 2018 World Cup (Russia) in terms of how they accommodated disabled spectators, based on questionnaires answered by disabled fans and volunteers. The article is announced by the editors as a comparison between the 2018 and the 2022 World Cup, but the data on the latter are very restricted, and the author mostly relies on official statements. However, he points out that experiences from Russia have influenced the accommodation for disabled fans in Qatar.

Magdalena Karolak analyses how the World Cup was framed in English language press in the UAE. Political tensions between Qatar and several other countries at the Gulf was declared as solved by 2021, and a more positive coverage contributed to encourage fans to visit the tournament. She also refers estimates that the United Arab Emirates may have been the biggest winner in terms of tourism, as they offered frequent flights to Doha.

Kamilla Swart, Othman Althawadi, Yara Zeeyad Ali and Brendon Knott study nation branding through mega-event during the World Cup. Based on interviews with 421 international visitors, they find that the overall impression of Qatar is quite positive. The article lacks a more thorough final discussion.

Youcef Bauandel and Thomas Bonnie James analyse human rights in Qatar, and whether the World Cup has been a catalyst for change. They discuss different modes of thought related to human rights at some depth, concluding that what they label as weak cultural relativism will guide their discussion. Here, the rights of the migrant workers and the LGBTQ+ are analyzed. I find this discussion highly interesting, but sometimes the authors stick to official Qatari statements without going more into depth. On two occasions, they use the phrase “The authorities in Doha (…) responded to the criticism in a measured and reasonable manner. They did it to avoid cementing orientalist clichés and the narrative of civilizational clashes while also ensuring that their answer did not upset Qatari society” (pages 193, 195, respectively). The first sentence works well in diplomatic discourse, but seems misplaced in critical academic discourse.

Meltem Özel takes on the issue how the World Cup was a catalyst for Qatar to achieve their aims on sustainability and sports diplomacy. In the final chapter, Davies Banda, Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, Nasser Al Khari and Jonathan Miseroy discusses sport diplomacy and soft power through the World Cup,  focusing on the human and social legacy program labeled as Generation Amazing.

To a European reader interested in supporter cultures and supporter activism, I found the chapters dealing with the criticism of the World Cup most interesting. There is no doubt that even if some of the chapters dealing with the protests would benefit from a few revisions, they offer alternative perspectives that should contribute in modifying the over-critical notions that dominated the discourse in parts of the Global North in the months leading up to the event. A case in point is mentioned by Bouandel and James on page 195, where they point out the report from The Guardian that 6 500 migrant workers had died since 2010, the sub-text being that this was due to the building of the World Cup infrastructure. In fact, the number included all who died, from any reason.

On the other hand, I think some of the authors could have questioned the official Qatari story of the events more critically, to make this valuable contribution even better.

Copyright © Arve Hjelseth 2025