FIFA World Cup 2022's Venue Face Uncertainty; Middle East Countries Declare Qatar Blockade Over Terrorist Ties
The worsening diplomatic conditions in the Middle East will likely affect one of the biggest sporting events in the world — the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup that is slated to be held in Qatar in 2022.
The tension among the Middle East nations intensified as more countries declared a blockade versus Qatar, and this inevitably raised concerns on the future of World Cup 2022.
This week, the governments of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates all declared they would suspend diplomatic ties with Qatar following deepening accusations that the country was supporting terrorist groups.
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The officials of FIFA are well aware of the situation. Although they are not yet pulling the event out from the country in hot water, it seems like holding the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar has become highly uncertain.
According to the Canadian news source National Post, FIFA council member Reinhard Grindel said, "One thing is certain, the world's football community should agree that large tournaments cannot be played in countries that actively support terror."
The FIFA official can only say now that they are still monitoring the situation and that they are communicating with beIN Sports TV network, which has already been banned from airing its shows in the UAE this week.
The same report noted that the government of Qatar has repeatedly denied supporting terrorist groups. However, its neighboring nations still find reason to believe that they are a state not to be diplomatically dealt with for now.
Since it has been decided that the FIFA World Cup 2022 will take place in Qatar, strains of controversies ensued.
In 2013, Daily Mail reported that the United States Department of Treasury had accused former Qatar Football Association president Abdul Rahman Omeir al-Naimi of facilitating a money transfer of "hundreds of thousands of dollars" to the notorious Al Qaeda group.
Also in 2013, The Guardian revealed that up to 4,000 migrant workers recruited for the construction of the would-be FIFA World Cup 2022 stadium would die due to inhumane working conditions. That time, labor groups feared that the death toll could go as high as 600 per year if nothing changed.
Over the years, FIFA World Cup has gained the reputation of preaching diversity, especially in terms of race and gender. However, knowing that it will be held in one of the countries that still criminalize homosexuality of any form, many fans feared that the 2022 tournament would not be as welcoming to fans from the LGBT community.
