Norwegian clubs and players have taken a stand for migrant workers, but who is prepared to follow them? While we should expect no better from the ghouls at Fifa, it remains an enduring ignominy that over a decade after their decision to grant World Cup 2022 to Qatar, apparently widespread global indifference means the tournament remains fully on course to take place in the new-build stadiums of the Arab state. So much so that a qualification process some thought might never happen began this week.Thousands of migrant workers have died in Qatar since Sepp Blatter gifted them their Fifa-approved golden ticket. The state’s own official figures for deaths specifically related to construction for World Cup stadiums are small – three...
Whatever happens in the Champions League final, the 10-year plan of the French club’s super-rich Qatari owners has paid off“Football is not for sale,” Aleksander Ceferin pronounced, famously, at a Uefa conference two years ago, in the process exploring the depth, width and delicate inner workings of just how wrong one earnest-looking man at a podium can be.Cut back to the real world. In the current, rather improbable timeline, Uefa is preparing to stage a biosecure Champions League final with no other purpose than the effective retailing of TV rights. Related: PSG reaching Champions League final gives hope to flailing Manchester City | Eni Aluko Related: Robert Lewandowski: the nutty professor obsessed with finding his outer limits Continue reading...
Our heroes’ formula of leaving with all the cash and paying no tax could be coming awry in the Middle East as a Dubai official suggests Qatar should give up the World CupExciting territory for the Middle East ingenues at Fifa, as the Qatar World Cup is elevated to the status of geopolitical bargaining chip. I know! It’ll be hard to know whether to qualify for it or sign a triple entente in the hope it’ll see us through the group stage.But first, a recap. Back in June, several countries in the region – including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt – instituted a blockade of Qatar, severing diplomatic relations and cutting off trade routes and so...
The two countries have learned that for all the styling, the schmaltz and the money, football reserves the right to be stubborn and insistently uncontrolledWith the World Cup in Russia looming ever closer, Euro 2016 has already faded into the familiar post-tournament haze, a flip chart of half-remembered moments. Goals from headers. Happy, well-adjusted Icelandic people. Cristiano Ronaldo close-ups. Roy Hodgson in a blazer looking noble and sad. David Guetta grinning and thrusting about behind his DJ plinth like the kind of uncle you have to keep an eye on at Christmas.This week I was also reminded of the posters of smiling, face-painted fans Uefa slapped up around French city centres: huge disembodied mugshots of supposed football supporters from every...
Trade minister Greg Hands presses the case for ‘creating a lasting, positive impact’, conveniently overlooking appalling abuses suffered by migrant workersFor obvious reasons, the small hours of last Wednesday turned out to be an excellent time to bury bad news. Even so, I was pleased to be awake for a tweet emanating from the trade minister Greg Hands, in which he announced: “In Qatar to open our #SportIsGreat conference, supporting Qatar’s 2022 World Cup & offering UK to be the partner of choice for delivery.” Related: Qatar World Cup 2022: Amnesty hits out at UK silence on human rights Related: Infantino’s jetsetting contrasts grimly with migrant worker’s Fifa case | Marina Hyde Continue reading...