Sportswashing: How Fifa has allowed the World Cup to be a tool for countries to better their reputations

'The World Cup is not just a great global sporting event, it is also inscribed with much deeper cultural and political importance.' Martin Jacques.

The World Cup is so much more than just the biggest footballing event in the world, it is a time where cultures can collide, and celebrate their differences through their common love of the beautiful game. We've seen through the years how the tournament can give travelling fans the opportunities to learn and experience the culture of the host countries, whether that being the experience of the favelas in the 2014 World Cup hosted by Brazil and the annoyance for foreign fans and player caused by the use of vuvuzelas by the South African fans in the 2010 South Africa hosted tournament. Although football is of course the most important past of the tournament, the event can have an astronomical impact on the state of the host country, especially in the economical sense. This has been made very clear in recent years as countries have invested lots of money into both securing the tournament hosting rights and then into getting their country ready for the tournament. According to The Borgen Project, the Brazilian government invested $15 billion into the games, and were hoping this investment would lead to a final financial gain of 5 times said amount. This sort of expectation of economical impact the tournament can have has made being the host country very desirable for countries who care more about the financial side than the footballing side, and will use the tournament to shed a very different light on what goes on in their countries.

In recent years it has become increasingly clear that Fifa's intentions around awarding a host to the tournament are in no way football related, especially with the bribery scandal which was unveiled mid 2015, which dated all the way back to 2006's Germany hosted tournament. South Africa nearly won hosting rights for this tournament, narrowly being beaten by the German's by 12 votes to 11, although this only being the case as Fifa's Oceania representative Charlie Dempsey abstained from voting, even though the Oceania confederation instructed him to vote for South Africa. It was later discovered that he had accepted a bribe of $250,000 to abstain and allow Germany to win the vote. However, according to the New Zealand Herald , Dempsey when arriving back in New Zealand claimed to have been threatened by "influential European interests" that if he voted for South Africa their would be adverse affects for South Africa. These sorts of threats clearly are not in the interest of the beautiful game, but in contrast evidence to suggest the higher ups in Fifa value money over integrity.

South Africa however did eventually find their success in being

World Cup hosts, as they won the next vote to host the 2010

tournament. This however also came with controversy, as it was

revealed in 2015 this tournament was also involved in the bribing

scandal as South Africa paid Fifa ministers $10 million to secure

their much needed votes. South Africa sports minister Fikile

Mbalula claimed the $10 million was not a bribe, but an above

board donation, meant for football development in the

Caribbean region. This clearly was not the case, this again showing Fifa clearly valuing making profit over a fair system to choose a host, which clearly shows what's happening now should be no shock.

The next World Cup ( hosted by Brazil ), also had some very controversial non sporting issues, which were very much linked to the greed of those in charge. The Brazilian government were so focused on making huge economical growths through the tournament that they turned their backs on their own people. They looked to build the perfect country to be the perfect host to the tournament, they wanted to create a perfect sporting event to hide the atrocities going on behind the scenes, they used the World Cup to sportswash. Throughout the tournament, the living conditions became a point of interest for those paying more attention to the country due to the World Cup, and Brazil aimed to cover what really goes on in those communities. According to Theculturetrip , a favela tends to be ruled by drug traffickers or organized crime groups (militias) that set the rules and run the area. The drug lords protect the residents in terms of local robberies, yet violence between rival gangs is high. The government looked to present their country in a much better light than the state of the favelas presented, so they looked to 'cleanse' them. According to Georgia Soares as of 2014, 1.4 million people lived in the favelas in Rio de Janeiro alone, and with the favelas of Rio in central view when the World Cup came about, the government issued a statement that the residents of these favelas had to move out for 'safety reasons'. The public however knew this was not the reason, but was the governments way of making their country look more presentable for the upcoming World Cup and further on Olympic Games. According to Catalytic Communities, 32% of favela residents were lower class and 65% were middle class in the year prior to the World Cup, showing a massive decrease from the 60% in 2001. This indicates the quality of life and the economy within these areas had been growing in the years prior to the World Cup, yet due to the tournament, and the governments dreams of making $60 billion profit from their invested $15 billion, has meant they are ignoring their natural growth in what was once a very much struggling community. In this attempted cleansing in what they knew would be their spotlighted area during the tournament, according to Amnesty International, the police in the state killed 580 people, which was a 40% increase on the year prior, with the majority of these being young black men in the favelas and other marginalised areas. Brazil used this tournament as both an excuse to treat their poorer communities in this disgusting way, and also used the World Cup to overshadow this, with the plan being for the great sporting spectacle to make people stop thinking about the horrible treatment within the country. Brazil used the tournament to sportswash, and Fifa didn't care, as they value profit over the issues going on in Brazil, and once these issues became clear, they knew how expensive it would be to stop what was going on, again valuing profit over the chance to stop sportswashing.

Fifa once again showed their lack of care for inclusivity when dealing with the problems Russia were causing. When Russia hosted the World Cup, they were actively fighting with Ukraine, yet Fifa still deemed them fit to host the tournament, as cancelling those plans and finding an alternative would have been very difficult in regard to profit. Their was also heavily reported racism and homophobia from Russian fans in the years prior to the tournament, and with the World Cup supposedly being a diverse competition where all cultures should collide and be celebrated, a country with such a strong history of racism and homophobia should not be where such an event should take place. Fifa however as always claimed to be non political and ignored these very clear red flags, allowing the tournament to shine a very positive light on the country, allowing them to sportswash. When however Russia invaded Ukraine, Fifa banned the country from competing in international matches. They finally decided to take action when it finally became the right decision financially, it was not worth sanctioning them when it meant a loss in profit, but when they believed having Russia playwould cause enough outcry for them to lose money, that was when it was finally time to take action, once again showing they value profit over what's right.

The decision to award Qatar the next World Cup was absolutely mind blowing, a country with no history in football, needing to build seven stadiums just for the tournament, and such a horrible history with inclusivity. Qatar was and is everything a country should not be when hosting this sort of tournament, yet Fifa allowed them to as it made them the most money, Fifa again choosing profit over inclusivity. A tournament which should bring all together should never be held in a country that treats women so poorly, sees LGBT as a crime punishable by death, and one that treats its workers so bad in the build up to the tournament.

In a time where so much work is being done for the sport to be more inclusive to the LGBT community, hosting the biggest tournament in football in a country that still sees it as a crime does nothing to help the cause. According to Human Dignity Trust, sexual intercourse between two people of the same sex can carry a maximum 7 year prison sentence in Qatar, meaning a same sex couple travelling to support their team were in danger the second they entered the country just for being themselves. Some players tried protesting this during the tournament by wearing rainbow armbands, which subsequently got them booked. Fifa cared more about the money they could potentially lose if they challenged their hosts rather than being inclusive to the LGBT community of their fanbase.

Another problem Fifa blatantly overlooked in allowing Qatar to host the World Cup is the lack of rights for women in the country. Again in a time where there is so much emphasis on raising the attention shown to the women's game, choosing a country which on average pays women 70% what they pay men for the same job, makes it the social norm for women to require their families approval when looking into a career path, and still has no laws which prevent harmful practices towards women such as genital mutilation, they did little to show that Fifa truly cares about women in football.

Choosing Qatar to host the World Cup when the country was still incredibly underdeveloped to host a tournament of that size meant lots of work needed doing for the tournament to go ahead, this coming at the detriment of migrant workers in the country. According to the Guardian in 2021, at least 6,500 migrant workers died whilst developing the country. Fifa allowing this to happen and hosting the World Cup in Qatar in spite of this shows how they allowed Qatar to sportswash, as they allowed them to use a successful tournament to overshadow this horrible situation.

In an interview with Nihal Arthanayake from the BBC, Gary Neville was being questioned on how he was still going to be attending and working the World Cup whilst being so outspoken on the problems hosting the World Cup in Qatar causes on inclusivity. Gary Neville claims he abhors the poor women's and human rights and the working conditions and will still work at the tournament but will keep clear in his beliefs throughout. This is clearly the boat many of these journalists would be in, having to do their job and report on the football yet still try and report on the atrocities occurring in the country. With Fifa allowing Qatar to sportswash through the tournament, they put everyone involved in a difficult and ultimately horrible moral position.

With the recent announcement that Saudi Arabia will host the 2034 World Cup, it is clear Fifa have learnt nothing from the Qatar situation and are once again putting profit ahead of inclusivity. This World Cup feels to be the end goal in how the Saudi Arabian government are making a footballing empire within their country, and using success in the sport to gain popularity as a country. Saudi's sportswashing began when the Saudi government bought Newcastle United from Mike Ashley in what seems to have been a very succesful attempt at sportswashing through such an dedicated fanbase. This has been clear as we have seen Newcastle fans completely overlook the problems being owned by a country with the magnitude of human rights violations that Saudi Arabia possess, all for the sake of footballing success.

To understand this situation, I interviewed a life long Newcastle fan named Jaydon Weston, who used to drive all the way from Plymouth to Newcastle for every home game, showing just how dedicated a supporter he truly is. When I asked him for his opinion on the impact the Saudi ownership has had on his team, he said he is delighted with the impact, and hopes for further success in the future, with more investment from the owners. When I questioned him on how he felt about having owners who run a country that overlooks women's rights, and treats them as subordinates to men, he said that was unimportant and made no difference to Newcastle, and that all that matters for him in regards to the Saudi government is the success of Newcastle. This itself shows the Saudi's success in sportswashing through Newcastle, as they have managed to make the fans support them in spit off these issues, and have used the sport to hide their clear human rights issues.

With the drastic growth in support and viewership in Saudi Arabian football, it is very clear that this World Cup is their end goal in making Saudi Arabia a true powerhouse in football, and with Fifa allowing them to host a World Cup, it is clear Fifa doesn't see an issue with having a country like Saudi Arabia become so successful in the sport. This shows once again that Fifa's priority has never been inclusivity, but what is best for business and makes them the most money.