1; WELCOME BACK TO THE NEWS, TODAY WE WILL TALK ABOUT HOW SOME PEOPLE THINK QATAR’S HOSTING OF THE WORLD CUP IS ‘SPORTSWASHING’; QATAR’S DECISION TO LAUNCH ITSELF INTO HOSTING THE 2022 WORLD CUP WAS A HEAD-SCRATCHER FROM THE START. WHY, SOME WONDERED, WOULD A MIDDLE EASTERN KINGDOM WITH FEWER THAN THREE MILLION PEOPLE AND LITTLE SOCCER TRADITION WANT TO HOST THE SPORT’S BIGGEST EVENT? 2; THAT IS ALL FOR TODAY, GOODNIGHT; 4; SKEPTICS SAY THE COUNTRY WANTED TO USE THE PRESTIGE OF THE WORLD CUP TO REMAKE ITS IMAGE AS AN OIL PRODUCER WITH FEW INTERNATIONAL CONNECTIONS AND A HUMAN-RIGHTS RECORD. 3; THEY VIEWED THE MOVE AS A CLASSIC CASE OF “SPORTSWASHING” — USING SPORTS AS A FORUM TO CAST A COUNTRY OR COMPANY AS DIFFERENT THAN MANY PEOPLE PERCEIVE. IT IS NOT A NEW CONCEPT, AND MIDDLE EASTERN OIL MONEY HAS BEEN A MAJOR PLAYER. WHERE MANY SEE RICH NATIONS SPENDING MONEY TO JOIN THE GLOBAL ELITE, OTHER SEE NEFARIOUS ATTEMPTS TO HIDE UNDESIRED REPUTATIONS. “THE QATAR WORLD CUP KICK STARTED DISCUSSION ABOUT SPORTSWASHING AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN FOOTBALL AND IT HAS BEEN VERY STEEP LEARNING CURVE FOR US ALL,” NSF PRESIDENT LISE KLAVENESS SAID AT A COUNCIL OF EUROPE EVENT. “THERE ARE CRITERIA THAT HAVE TO BE KEPT TO, AND THEN IT WOULD BE BETTER NOT TO AWARD TO SUCH STATES,” MINISTER NANCY FAESER SAID LAST MONTH IN A MOVE THAT SPARKED DIPLOMATIC TENSIONS. QATAR’S LEADER, SHEIKH TAMIM BIN HAMAD AL THANI, HAS FOUGHT BACK, SAYING THE COUNTRY “HAS BEEN SUBJECTED TO AN UNPRECEDENTED CAMPAIGN THAT NO HOST COUNTRY HAS EVER FACED.”; THE WORLD CUP IS JUST ONE WAY QATAR IS USING ITS MASSIVE WEALTH TO PROJECT INFLUENCE. BY BUYING SPORTS TEAMS, HOSTING HIGH-PROFILE EVENTS, AND INVESTING BILLIONS IN EUROPEAN CAPITALS, QATAR HAS BEEN INTEGRATING ITSELF INTO INTERNATIONAL FINANCE AND A NETWORK OF SUPPORT.
