So this is it. Qatar 2022 has been and gone and there is a lot to reflect on. In terms of the football it was a great tournament with a great final. Argentina were deserved winners for the way they dominated a large part of the final against France. One could see they were up for it from the start, with their body language, their tackles, their transitions and the way they used the crowd to create energy.
And so Lionel Messi got to crown his career with the one trophy he did not have, the big one, and it is what his great career deserves (says someone who has always been on his side in the big Messi-Ronaldo debate).
There were many other highlights, too, with all the shocks and upsets from nations from all parts of the world, such as Japan, Morocco, Senegal, South Korea and Saudi Arabia to name a few. These teams really showed what they can do and brought new fans and eyes to the game, people who may not be as invested in the World Cup as others. They captivated the spirit of what the tournament should be about.
It was a World Cup like no other. For the last 12 years the Guardian has been reporting on the issues surrounding Qatar 2022, from corruption and human rights abuses to the treatment of migrant workers and discriminatory laws. The best of our journalism is gathered on our dedicated Qatar: Beyond the Football home page for those who want to go deeper into the issues beyond the pitch.
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Morocco reaching the semi-finals was a huge achievement. They brought joy to the competition and their performances will inspire a lot of people, not only in Morocco but from all over Africa as well as the Moroccan diaspora. They will be very proud of what the team did. And it was great to see them earning praise for the way they played the game: their discipline, fight, fluidity in attack and organisation. In the past when African teams have been praised it has often been about athleticism and physicality but that was not the case this time so I think it has really changed the narrative of how African teams are perceived.
Off the pitch Qatar showed it is possible to have a sober football tournament (inside the stadium) and that fans from different nations can mingle without problems. That is not always the case when it comes to men’s football and hopefully is something that can be part of the game more prominently in the future.
As for the myriad off-pitch issues, they were respectfully raised by the media rather than being brushed under the carpet. However, it is important to remember that concerns regarding migrant workers and the LGBTQ+ community will not disappear just because the world’s spotlight is no longer on Qatar.
It is hugely disappointing to see that Fifa, who announced it made $1bn more revenue than anticipated from the tournament, has still not set up a migrant workers remedy fund, instead announcing a legacy fund which includes no provision for worker compensation.
During the tournament there was controversy around LGBTQ+ issues, the OneLove armband and people having rainbow hats confiscated, but did Fifa do anything to highlight those issues? Absolutely not. Instead it was left to people around the tournament – media, players, travelling supporters – to shine a light on Qatar’s discriminatory policies.
What we want to see is real leadership and real governance from the highest body in world football, but we are not getting that. We want Fifa to actually fulfil its remit of making sure football is inclusive. Instead Fifa is taking the World Cup to places where not everyone will be accepted and that can’t be right.
Just look at how embarrassing Gianni Infantino’s speech at the beginning of the tournament was. It was disgraceful. How can you stand there on a podium and tell people that today you feel like a migrant worker or a person from the LGBTQ+ community? He has not lived a day in the lives of those people. It was a real how-dare-you moment.
I think Fifa forgets that people within the game – whether a player, working in the media or operations personnel – are individuals who are members of multiple interconnected social groups. And we saw in Qatar that everyone can make a difference. Take the Iran team who stood in solidarity against the abuse against women and their rights which is happening in their country at the moment. These are Iranian men standing up for their mothers, wives, daughters, sisters and friends. Just because they are not women it does not mean that it does not affect them.
There are lots of ways people from all over the world can help the LGBTQ+ community in Qatar going forward, but to do it properly we need to understand the political framework they are working within and the challenges they face within their society. They are the ones who understand when is the right time for activism in terms of protest or pressure without putting their lives at risk. So we need to listen and learn from them in order to give them the tools to try to bring about change.
People who want to help should go away and educate themselves around these issues, whether it is LGBTQ+ issues or the problems faced by migrant workers, to understand what it really means to the people on the ground and how support can be a vehicle for change.
The next World Cup will be hosted in the USA, together with Mexico and Canada, where there are also issues when it comes to freedoms, whether that is abortion rights or anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments. There are three and a half years to that tournament. So what is Fifa going to do to address those issues, use its influence to create a fairer society and support the growth of the game in the right way? Fifa must do better than it did in Qatar.
