Article by Abigail Rosas, TPT Staff Writer

The World Cup is one of the most prestigious and highly-anticipated tournaments in the world. 32 nations coming together to play one game; sharing the same rules, passion, and end goal. Every four years, we see the world celebrate the universal game of soccer. The 2022 World Cup was hosted in Qatar, which followed a chain of negative feedback. Everyone was expecting Qatar to bring failure to the World Cup, from the mistreatment of migrant workers in the construction of stadiums, the discrimination against LGBTQ communities, and the untraditional ways of bidding that took place. Western media put all efforts in stripping the focus of celebrations of soccer and culture to place a spotlight on these injustices. But what western media failed to spotlight is their own flaws in the system. Throughout all the coverage of Qatar, there was a clear undertone of prejudice against Qatar, as the media hid all faults of others variables in the equation.

Media coverage started with the bidding process that named Qatar as the country to host the World Cup. On December 10, 2010, Qatar was announced as host of the 2022 World Cup, with suspicions of cheating followed in 2015. A total of $150 million were accounted for in bribes, which included votes towards Qatar. Qatar won Round 4 with 14 votes, followed by the United states who had 8 votes. An ending for the United States to win the 2022 bidding was highly anticipated, but as soon as it was taken away a backlash arose. Journalists all over the nation stated all the reasons as to why Qatar, a small country of almost three million people, was not capable of hosting the World Cup. But what if the ‘ideal pathway’ was finished? Would the media cover the same aspects as to why the United States may not be capable of holding the same World Cup?

Although the bidding process was clouded with corruption and bribes, there was a positive light to Qatar hosting the 2022 tournament. Qatar was named the first Middle Eastern country to host the World Cup in history. This brought a light to the culture and the positive advancement of soccer in Qatar. We saw the same advancement after Japan and South Korea hosted the World Cup in 2002. Before hosting the world cup, many players from the national teams of Japan and South Korea felt as though prestigious international football was out of sight for young players in the nation. The national teams themselves were barely making any wins after being qualified in past World Cups. Hosting the World Cup brought more opportunities for them in the world of soccer and enlightened the world on the culture and beauty of the countries. We saw the manifestation of this in the 2022 World Cup as Japan shocked the world, making it to the round of 16 after beating many teams with a winning title. Many believed that teams who have not been in the World Cup before or ‘lacked the resources’ to hold a tournament this big are not qualified to be considered. But giving this opportunity to countries comes with positive intentions; it brings in jobs for the communities, spotlights different cultures, and advances the opportunities of soccer in these countries.

Qatar is not the first to be accused of corruption, but why does Western media have such a problem with Qatar? Specifically with Qatar, there was a clear prejudice against the Middle East and Muslims and lack of education in the laws and culture.

Some of the biggest headlines were about the criticism of Qatar's record for their mistreatment of women, members of the LGBTQ community, and migrant workers, which I think is fair to highlight. It’s important to educate others about these harmful ideologies, no one should be discriminated against or harmed in any way. What isn't fair is to single handedly pick out Qatar on these injustices without highlighting the harm the United States and Europeans countries have on these communities as well.

Many of the Western headlines that hit the internet had racist undertones, including but not limited to a French outlet publishing a cartoon portraying Qatar’s national football team as terrorists. This questions the true intentions of Western journalists: were they really worried about the human rights in Qatar and the people affected or was it uncomfortable to see the World Cup being hosted in an Arab Middle Eastern country?

*People pray outside a World Cup stadium in Qatar. Photo via: Middle East Monitor*

The negative media coverage deeply highlights the double standards that are rooted in the media. This media coverage did more harm than good in educating others. It continues to feed the stereotypes of Middle Eastern countries and Muslims. It was important to realize the difference between culture and laws and to educate people on different religions and the beliefs that follow. The beliefs of modesty, humility, and dignity are important pillars in Islam and the world as a whole failed to become educated on it.

It feels wrong to perpetuate and single out a country with their mistreatment towards migrant workers when a 2021 report by the Guardian shows that many undocumented farm laborers have been having to work in the fields for years, pay taxes, and have children living in the United States, but have minimal labor rights, little or no access to occupational health services, and are constantly under danger of being deported.

Let’s also not forget that around 240 bills that directly restrict LGBTQ rights or make care that is gender affirming illegal have been introduced in the U.S., some states in the U.S. have banned the word ‘gay’ from being used in schools, and in the last two decades, more than 600 LGBTQ members have been killed, which is deemed as an undercount due to the deaths going unreported or people being misgendered in reports.

Even more infuriating, Western teams encouraged players to protest against Qatar, even when protesting against your own government is met with violence and death.

In 2016, football player Colin Kaepernick for the San Francisco 49ers, began to protest against the United States government for the repeated mistreatment of black Americans. Western media attacked this gesture in a heartbeat. It was seen as ‘betrayal to America’ and he was met with consequences. Following the protests of Kaepernick, U.S. soccer players were told to stand for the flag, throwing negative backlash at the protest made by Kaepernick. Ironically, Western teams support LGBTQ rights protests in Qatar but don't allow their players to speak out against injustice in their own nations, which goes to show the repeated prejudice shown against Qatar in the World Cup.

With the World Cup at an end, Qatar brought so many memories to football fans all over the world. Those who were able to attend the World Cup had nothing but praise for Qatar. Take away politics and personal views, social media showed the beautiful celebrations from people all over the world as they celebrated their countries successes in games. There was dancing, singing, and nothing but respect displayed among all the fans across the world as they watched the results of the World Cup play out.

Fans are already awaiting the 2026 World Cup, which will be co-hosted by the United States. With all of this said, it raises the question; will western media highlight the same human rights violations against the U.S.? If we look at America's human rights reputation the United States is arguably as ‘unfit’ to host the World Cup as the media said Qatar was. It is unlikely that the United States will receive the same backlash Qatar did, which conceals the patterns Western media has with performative activism and biased coverage.

The views in this article are the author’s own, and do not necessarily reflect the official stances of High School Democrats of America or The Progressive Teen.

2022 World Cup in Qatar: Highlighting the True Intentions of Western Media