To get the big picture, however, start with “A Contentious World Cup,” a conversation between Lauren Jackson, a writer for the newsletter The Morning, and Tariq Panja, a sports reporter for The Times. Here are some excerpts:
Lauren: I grew up in Arkansas, where we watched a different kind of football. Can you give me a sense of how big the World Cup is globally?
Tariq: There’s nothing bigger than this, not even the Olympics. The World Cup is the most watched event in the world. It happens every four years, and it’s a highlight of many people’s lives.
These 32 teams capture the imagination of supporters even outside their borders, particularly in Asia, where most countries historically do not qualify for the World Cup. People may adopt a team and support them with a fervent passion.
This is the fourth World Cup you’ve covered. What is different about this one?
This is the first time that the games are being played in November and December. Because of the desert heat in Qatar, the schedule had to be changed, upending the entire global soccer calendar. European soccer, for the first time, has been paused halfway through the season. Players now have less time to train with their national teams.
These games have normally been held in different cities across huge countries, like Russia, Brazil or South Africa. This is the smallest location ever to host this tournament.
In 2009, Qatar put forward the most extravagant bid in history to host the World Cup. Why did it want to host so badly?
Qatar is a tiny speck in the Gulf desert wanting the world to know it’s here. It’s the first Arab and first Muslim nation to host a sporting event of this size. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are looking on enviously, giving Qatar clout.
In 2009, Qatar spent tens of millions of dollars to try to host the World Cup. They paid famous athletes like Zinedine Zidane, one of the best players in history, to support their bid. Still, Qatar’s bid seemed like a joke. It was so outlandish as a concept. They were getting questions about the heat, about how they could fit the games in a country smaller than Connecticut and whether they would allow alcohol.
When FIFA’s president at the time opened the envelope and Qatar’s name came out, immediately everyone zeroed in on corruption. The investigations that followed forced FIFA to change the way it designated a host, and revealed how a country was able to bend the world to its will through force of cash.
The article continues:
How has Qatar pulled off its preparation? Talk us through the controversy surrounding this tournament.
They essentially had to rebuild an entire country in 12 years to host this one-month event. They amassed hundreds of thousands of overseas workers, particularly South Asian workers, to do this construction. Thousands of those workers have died in Qatar since 2010, the year the country won hosting rights, according to human rights groups. Many more were injured building or refurbishing these eight air-conditioned stadiums, which Qatar will have little use for after the World Cup. It’s been a collision of some of the world’s poorest people with the ambition of some of the world’s richest people.
The country’s human rights record has been under scrutiny beyond the worker deaths. One key aspect of that is Qatar’s criminalization of homosexuality. The World Cup is supposed to be this festival open to everyone. How does that square with a country that would jail you for being gay?
FIFA’s president, Gianni Infantino, pushed back against the outrage yesterday, calling it “hypocrisy” from European countries. He asked fans to criticize him instead of Qatar.
Some European soccer fans are calling for people to boycott watching the games. What would you tell someone weighing that decision?
It’s a conversation people are having all over the world, and it speaks to the troubling nature of this tournament. It’s for each individual to figure that out for themselves. But from the players’ perspectives, this isn’t their fault. It’s the position FIFA has placed them in.
Ultimately, though, this tournament could be held on the moon, and it would attract the same number of eyeballs. Soon, most of the world is only going to be talking about what the matchups look like.
If you’d like to learn more, here are a few questions that recent Times reporting has addressed:
Students, read the one of the articles in The Times’s extensive coverage of the tournament, and then tell us:
Are you a sports fan? Do you love soccer? Will you be watching the 2022 World Cup in Qatar?
If so, which team will you be rooting for? Which players and matchups are you most looking forward to watching? Do you have a favorite memory from a past World Cup?
Were you already familiar with some of the issues surrounding the 2022 World Cup? Which ones interest you most? Why?
Advocacy groups have criticized Qatar’s human rights record, including laws criminalizing homosexuality and restricting free speech. However, in a guest essay, the historian Abdullah Al-Arian argues that the World Cup belongs in the Middle East. Do you think Qatar should be hosting the 2022 tournament? Why or why not?
The Times writes that the decision to take the World Cup to Qatar has “upturned a small nation, battered the reputation of global soccer’s governing body and altered the fabric of the sport.” Do you believe that the 2022 games have hurt the reputations of FIFA and the sport itself?
Make some bold predictions: Who will win the World Cup? Who will be the breakout stars of the tournament?
Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.
Find more Student Opinion questions here. Teachers, check out this guide to learn how you can incorporate these prompts into your classroom.
