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...
The building of World Cup venues has, by some estimates, cost thousands of lives. Should we be sitting in these arenas watching football? Or tipping them into the harbour?If you want to be picky, you could say Raheem Sterling chose an ill-targeted metaphor in his statement this week on racial prejudice and the need for a step-change in football’s power structures.Comparing the spread of racism to the spread of Covid-19 is probably not the best way to change those minds most in need of changing. Let’s face it, a global Venn diagram of virus-deniers and bigotry-sceptics is likely to feature a fairly dense overlap, a concentration of people who don’t really think either of these things exist. You hear that?...
Aaron Ramsey return to Wales after a year out, Naby Keïta must step up for Guinea and Iceland will face a frosty reception The build-up to Wales’s remaining qualifiers has been dominated by the dismay that Gareth Bale’s call-up has caused at Real Madrid, where the forward has been on the sidelines for a month nursing a calf injury. Bale’s late winner against Azerbaijan in September proved how influential the forward can be in swinging matches Wales’ way but the returning Aaron Ramsey may be just as important for Ryan Giggs. The Juventus midfielder has been absent for Wales for a year so his return now, with two must-win games ahead, could not be better timed. Having just returned to...
Manchester City manager’s yellow-ribbon display of political affiliation sits uncomfortably with a readiness to front for QatarAs they consider the case of Pep Guardiola, who won his first medal in English football at Wembley on Sunday while semi-surreptitiously sporting a yellow ribbon in support of the jailed members of the Catalan independence movement, the leaders of the Football Association might look back at the record of their own predecessors, and in particular at the events of 1938, when they ordered the England football team to perform the Nazi salute in Berlin’s Olympic stadium.History tells they did so under instruction from the British ambassador to Germany, Sir Nevile Henderson, who was having a difficult year. On the morning of the match,...
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...