What did we see? Genius on the field and insights in a fleeting moment. It was also noted that the team has more than 11 players.
We also saw how Argentina’s star player Lionel Messi got his crown. He also got a robe.
Emir of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and FIFA President Gianni Infantino they strung a traditional Qatari cloak, the bishti, on Messi’s back on the podium. It is an honor in the Arab world.
It can only be seen as such, but this time its symbolic meaning is also different.
Whose team you play for, that’s the coat you wear.
Messi earns astronomical sums in salary and sponsorship income at the French club PSG, which has been under Qatari ownership for more than ten years. He is also the advertising face of Saudi Arabia and receives compensation of tens of millions of euros.
Messi doesn’t say a word about the human rights violations of Middle Eastern countries. It has been so and will continue to be so.
Because of this, the blatant ethical problems associated with the football business are now personified in the idolized Messi. He is a hero celebrated for his merits, but at the same time he gives a face to the sportswear of Middle Eastern countries.
The eyes sting, because the countries of the Middle East want to systematically create positive publicity with sports events and erase human rights deficiencies, such as the harsh treatment of guest workers and the subordinate position of women and sexual minorities.
Messi is the spearhead of Saudi Arabia’s propaganda machine
The sight was unpleasant even before the start of the World Cup in Qatar, because we knew what kind of human rights crimes they were built on.
We saw in Qatar how the president of Fifa Gianni Infantino was in the grip of the Qatari leadership.
He has not listened to the demands of human rights organizations that compensation must be paid to the relatives of the migrant workers who were killed in the buildings of the World Cup and to the migrant workers who were exploited in Qatar. He carried out the will of Qatar.
It is at least to be assumed that Lionel Messi, the most important football influencer of the moment, will not use the opportunity brought by his position to turn the eyes of the football-following world towards Qatar anymore.
He is not with Amnesty International at the front and demanding the compensation fund and Qatar to continue improving the working conditions of foreign workers and implementing the already agreed improvements.
It is just as clear that Messi will be the spearhead of Saudi Arabia’s propaganda machine when the country wants the 2030 World Cup with a joint application with Greece and Egypt.
Like Qatar, Saudi Arabia is ready to invest hundreds of billions of oil dollars in the scenery made possible by the soccer World Cup. Saudi Arabia also wants to increase its weight in the world as a political and economic power factor.
The money is good not only for Messi but also for Europeans
We know that both Qatar and Saudi Arabia have a strong foothold in European club football. They own top clubs and therefore top players.
In the big picture, European football is kind of a throw-in product. European countries crave investment billions, gas and business opportunities from the Middle East. In return, Europe offers, among other things, nice visibility through soccer.
Europe has successfully managed to hide its values and its human rights-based foreign policy from interfering with raw commerce.
In terms of top European football, the situation is somehow inconsolable. The future of international football is being fought on two fronts – on both fronts, European values are at the bottom.
On the one hand, the key clubs have been discouraged by big money to carry out the orders of the powerful countries of the Middle East, and on the other hand, the international football confederation Fifa, under the leadership of Gianni Infantino, is curtailing speech and actions in favor of, for example, human rights.
Gianni Infantino’s position at the head of Fifa is strong, because he does not need European football associations to support him. Fifa constantly forges billions of dollars a year with TV rights and sponsorship contracts.
Infantino distributes this money to development projects in different countries. This is how he guarantees the support of 200 countries for his actions. FIFA has 211 member countries.
A dozen or so European countries have publicly considered Infantino’s outbursts to be rude, naive and inappropriate, when Infantino has compared his own life story to the suffering of a migrant worker or he has stood alongside Qatar to oppose freedom of expression on behalf of gender minorities.
Would the current Fifa grant the games to Qatar?
Investigative reporter for the Guardian David Conn knows Fifa like the back of his hand. He has studied it for years and has written a few books about the organization’s corruption.
Would Fifa award the World Cup to Qatar now if the country’s application was on the table?
– I think you would agree. For example, in 2010 it was not only the case that only the corrupt part of Fifa voted for Qatar. There is a bigger political story about power in the background, says David Conn.
At that time, Qatar had already gained influence in world football circles and had become a big gambler.
– Now Qatar’s position is even more significant, that’s why Qatar could very well get the World Cup today.
This is how it is despite the fact that five years ago Fifa drew up its own human rights program – due to external pressure, of course. The program underlines that the countries applying for events under Fifa commit to respect human rights when organizing them.
The validity of Fifa’s principles will be tested when the 2030 Games are awarded in a few years. So Saudi Arabia is pushing the application in with Greece and Egypt.
David Conn says Saudi Arabia has been slower than Qatar to grow its influence, but now feels its time has come.
Saudi Arabia does not corrupt. It talks with money and knows that Fifa understands such talk.
– I can quite realistically see Saudi Arabia organizing the World Cup, says Conn.
So what could go wrong? Saudi Arabia has Lionel Messi as its communication flagship. In addition, Qatar, which organized the games, can be consulted if necessary on what to do when the “west” asks about human rights and complains that gays are being persecuted.
Qatar also knows how to give tips on influencer communication.
The most shocking moment of the influencer communication of the World Cup in Qatar is depicted above.
A mother and two little girls in their Qatar shirts approach me and the cameraman timidly, but inexorably, in the fan zone in Doha Jani Saikkoa. They watch as they pat the microphone and know that it will still land in the distance of the statement.
“I love Qatar” with a smile. Of course many times, of course for many western media.