Here’s a word we don’t hear every day, but in the light of the current World Cup being held in Qatar, it is being used more and more: Sports Washing.

Sports washing for one, has nothing to do with washing clothes or cleaning. It is rather when a body such as a country or an individual uses sports to wash their hands off any wrongdoing they may have done.

At an international level, sports washing is part of a country’s soft power. Whether it be Saudi Arabia buying Newcastle United FC or Russia’s 2018 World Cup, the ultimate goal is the same: changing the topic of discussions and taking the spotlight away from controversies.

And Qatar is no different – illegality of homosexuality along with the unsafe working conditions of the 1000’s of migrant workers has been cited as just some of the examples of Qatar’s controversial human rights.

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Bidding corruptions?

What if I told you, that even with sports washing itself considered as a form of corruption, Qatar allegedly paid a hefty sum of money to powerful individuals in order to ensure they were hosts? They won the bid over the like of superpowers US, Australia, Japan and South Korea.

Sports washing isn’t cheap: Saudi Arabia has already spent over $1.5 billion in sports washing. But economic power doesn’t necessarily give you popularity.

11 off the 22 committee members that voted on the 2022 tournaments have been penalised in one way or another, heavily linked with corruption. Qatar ensured its prevalence, but at what cost? Further tarnished reputation?

 

Migrant Workers

Much of the infrastructure was built from ground up, and that requires labour. A lot of labour. 2 million migrant workers, mostly from South Asia, have been involved in building the stadium, hotels, fan villages, and even the city in which the Final is due to be held.

A report by The Guardian criticised the poor working conditions in the extreme heat, and estimated that over 1200 deaths had occurred between 2011 and 2013 in relation to the construction.

 

LGBTQ Fans 

Concerns have been raised about the right of members of the LGBTQ community who plan to attend the tournament as homosexuality is illegal in Qatar. 

Qatari officials had stated in early 2020 that there would be no restrictions on displaying pro LGBTQ+ imagery, but reversed its decision and plans to confiscate any rainbow flags in order to "protect" the spectators from any violence.

A Qatari official also is claimed to have proclaimed that homosexuality is a "damage to the mind.", and thus that visitors should accept their laws.

As a fact, the 2022 World Cup seems to be a clear case of sports washing. Sportswashing may be of opinion, but discrimination never is and human rights are not the ones that should be comprised in this political battle.