With the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar, so much controversy has surrounded the event. The event has been tarnished under bribery charges ever since FIFA allocated the 2022 rights to the middle-east country.
During the event, FIFA had to ban football team captains from wearing rainbow armbands, and even $75 million worth of Budweiser beers have also not been transported to Qatar after the country’s last-minute ban on alcoholic drinks in the stadium.
Thus, it has brought bad repute to FIFA from the Western media. On the other hand, even F1 has a decade-long contract with Qatar to hold Grand Prix races. With a regime keeping the rights of the LGBTQ+ population hostage and already having tarnished human rights record. The question arises should major sports go there and help improve their image?
Sebastian Vettel suggests a moral compass
Vettel, seeing all major sports, going to countries like Qatar and Saudi Arabia isn’t comfortable. He suggests to F1 and FIFA that they avoid going to countries with bad human rights records. They should make a moral code for criteria that makes a country eligible for a big sporting tournament.
“Sports should draw up a moral code [that]…define[s] exactly what the basic political conditions must be for sport to be allowed to take place in a country. Otherwise, we as Formula 1 or FIFA just say no. And don’t just nod in a friendly way and take the money,” said Vettel [translated by DeepL].
Vettel himself, back in Qatar in 2021, wore a rainbow t-shirt. The stewards reportedly reprimanded him for his political messaging, as Qatar sees homosexuality as a crime. But Vettel remained firm and told the officials to remove him from the race if they wanted.
In the end, Vettel continued with the weekend. But he doesn’t expect players to make constant sacrifices like this, as he believes a world cup is a big event in their lives, and for the sake of political messaging, ending their world cup wouldn’t be fair.
The change can still be done
F1 drivers like Lewis Hamilton and Vettel see a positive in visiting these countries. They believe that their presence and inclusion in the outside world and criticism from them would want the younger generation to step ahead against the state-sponsored atrocities.
So, he doesn’t see visiting Qatar as an absolutely bad idea. Vettel believes at this time. It’s difficult for countries to keep their human rights atrocities under the rug.
Or say that it’s the way here. With international media watching them constantly throughout any major tournament being hosted, there is a level of checks against those governments.
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