BarcelonaDoes karma exist? Destiny? I have no idea, really. But if it exists, it has completely impacted Joseph Blatter. I have always found the figure of this Swiss fascinating. For years he was the president of FIFA, one of the most powerful men in the world of sport. And his downfall is closely linked with the World Cup in Qatar… when he was against the World Cup in Qatar. Blatter, the little Swiss who always explained the world as if it were a football match, with phrases like “we don’t foul from behind” as a euphemism for corruption, or “I’m like Messi” to refer to his height , wanted this World Cup in 2022 to be in the United States. Think about it, it makes perfect sense: if you wanted to boost a money-making market, who would you bet on? Blatter did not prefer the United States over Qatar on human rights issues. He preferred them to take care of his business. I knew that a World Cup in Qatar posed a schedule that would upset the clubs and the players, that it would be in a country where after the World Cup a market that generates income would not be taken care of and that would cause many complaints. He wanted the United States, which will eventually be the host in four years along with Mexico and Canada, because by population and structure it will continue to give money after the tournament is over. The United States is getting into the soccer business. And for FIFA it means noise of dollars in the pocket.
One of the best news ahead of the World Cup in Qatar is to be able to find excellent journalistic work, such as the latest Netflix documentary on FIFA, a Movistar documentary on Blatter or the work of many local media, from the magazine Doll fins a The English Media. A part of the press does not pull up carpets, but another good part does try to do it. It’s a matter of knowing how to look for it, because good journalism is being done criticizing this World Cup. In general there is consensus when it comes to calling Qatar a dictatorship, but this state was already so before the appointment and will remain so afterwards.
Does it make sense to criticize Qatar now and not to have done so when it has organized Formula 1, motorcycle and athletics races, and when it has bought debt, buildings, ports, media and companies in Spain? The World Cup generates so much interest that it gets Qatar more talked about now than when it buys planes, negotiates with the Taliban or buys power in Europe. Maybe we should be more critical the rest of the year and not just now. In fact, we should look more towards FIFA to demand that, if we all agree that it is a shame to hold a World Cup in a country like this, that it include in its statutes that in order to organize a World Cup must respect human rights. Create a legal framework that stipulates that in order to organize a World Cup there must be rights for workers and freedom to love and there must not be any kind of discrimination based on race, sex or sexual condition. The big problem with the World Cup is not Qatar, which was like this before and which will surely change little. The big problem is the system that allows it.
