Will next World Cup host show red card to rest of Middle East?
For several months now, the state of Qatar has been bitterly complaining about the “unjust and biased” boycott against it by a group of Arab countries led by Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
In a way, it is a case of poetic justice, with the Qataris getting a dose of their own medicine. After all, Qatar has been active in boycotting Israel. Sometimes this boycott is plain silly, such as during the recent European Universities Debating Contest, where the Qatari team refused to compete against Israel’s debaters. (The boycott seems to have backfired, as the cheeky Israelis won both competitions up for grabs.)
One must remember that Qatar is the controversial host of the prestigious football World Cup in 2022. What kind of tournament is this going to be, what with the host country boycotting another Fifa member state, its players, referees and fans, purely for political reasons? The Fifa leadership now faces a wake-up call.
Meanwhile better not get me started on the slave labour that is building Qatar’s stadiums for 2022.
Dr Andras Kanos
Budapest
