FIFA World Cup: Qatar’s hosting of tournament is ‘sportswashing’ skeptics say

Where many people see rich nations spending money to join the global elite, other see nefarious attempts to hide undesired reputations.

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?

Skeptics say the country wanted to use the prestige of the World Cup, which starts Sunday, to remake its image as an oil producer with few international connections and a shaky human-rights record.

They viewed the move, which will cost the country some US$220 billion, 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 hardly a new concept, and Middle Eastern oil money has long 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,” Norway soccer federation president Lise Klaveness said at a recent Council of Europe event.

Germany’s interior minister also expressed concern about bringing the event to Qatar, saying “no World Cup takes place in a vacuum.”

“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.”