The reckoning of Qatar

The Netherlands has returned to business as usual. Nearly six months after the World Cup in Qatar, the discussion about labor rights and OneLove ties has died down. Meanwhile, the tiny emirate on the Persian Gulf thunders on. The World Cup's resounding success not only tastes like more, it has also awakened neighboring and arch-rival Saudi Arabia. In Qatar, Jaap de Groot saw up close how international top-class sport took on a new dimension, with sport, power, politics and a whole lot of money increasingly merging together. And the Netherlands? It stands by and watches.

Working for media from Australia and the United States, you are pressed even more on facts beyond who is at left back or whether 4-3-3 or 5-3-2 is being played. There is much more focus on the tentacles that global top sport has extended toward just about every facet of society. As a result, it became clear as early as Nov. 20, the opening day of the World Cup, how Qatar was already working on the sequel to the billion-dollar ball. Sitting in the grandstand of the Al Bayt Stadium that day was Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), who really hadn't been pressing at the ticket office for a ticket to Qatar - Ecuador. Which made it clear how from the kickoff of the World Cup it was serious business in Doha. The ball had not yet started rolling when Qatar started lobbying for the 2036 Olympics. After the mini-state had previously applied for the 2016 and 2020 Games, only then unknown made unloved. That is also the big win for Qatar from the World Cup. Not only was the event a moneymaker of the better kind, it was also one of the best organized World Cups ever. This has seriously increased the chances of bringing in the Games. The IOC will tie that knot in 2028 or 2029.

Migrant Workers

In contrast to the allocation of the World Cup by world soccer federation FIFA in 2010, criteria such as working conditions and human rights do weigh heavily in their consideration for Thomas Bach & Co. Thus, Qatar still has six years to improve further, as it has already set in motion after 2010. Anyone who looks at the reports of the UN and International Labor Organizations will see that positive changes did occur between 2010 and 2022. A nuance that is missing from the Dutch discussion. Also with the KNVB, whose main sponsor ING also has a lot of butter on its head because the bank was one of the major financiers of the World Cup. The Dutch attitude is mainly determined by two factors. First, the printed Dutch media are under financial pressure and budgets are being cut so much that no journalists have been sent to Qatar for the World Cup to scout things out. So one has to rely on social media and that is where things went wrong with an article in The Guardian, which did have a reporter travel to the emirate. The English newspaper wrote that between 2010 and 2020, 6,500 migrant workers from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Nepal had died. There was nothing wrong with this information, only the Netherlands went wrong in its interpretation of those 6,500 deaths. Anyone who had really studied Qatar would have noted that the country has 3 million inhabitants, only 300,000 of whom are Qatari. The remaining 2.7 million are mostly glorified fortune seekers from more than a hundred countries, attracted by its rapidly increasing prosperity. Because whether you're a construction worker from India or a banker from New York, in Qatar you're going to earn four to 10 times more. In short, those 2.7 million non-Qatari are actually all migrant workers. Only various Dutch media ignored that and translated 6,500 deceased migrant workers into 6,500 dead World Cup construction workers. However The Guardian subsequently pointed out that the figure in question had been taken out of context, this fake news would penetrate deep into the Dutch discussion. Even renowned columnists like Youp van 't Hek and Nausicaa Marbe used the 6,500 as an indication that Qatar had a mass murder on its conscience. While the reality is that between 2010 and 2020, the figure is 650 deaths per year, including migrant workers from Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh who died of diseases and traffic accidents. It is not clear from any document how many deaths occurred during the construction of the World Cup stadiums. Also, with a total of 1.2 million, the above groups make up 30 percent of Qatar's population. Thus, this represents a mortality rate of 0.05 percent, compared to 0.96 percent in the Netherlands. However, with the note that the workers employed in Qatar are predominantly young and the mortality rate is hardly affected by deceased elderly people. Therefore, Qatar's candidacy for the 2036 Olympics will be an important test of how far the country has improved after the World Cup. Because human rights do spearhead policy and assessment at the IOC.

Cannot exist

That Qatar is a serious candidate for the IOC has been proven by the World Cup. It is incredible but true: an area the size of the province of Utrecht is already capable of hosting the Games. The Khalifa Stadium, where the Dutch played against the United States, was already the setting for the World Athletics Championships in 2019, and the state-of-the-art swimming stadium is ready for the World Swimming Championships to be held in January 2024. Furthermore, on my way to the El Bayt Stadium, located in the middle of the desert, I suddenly saw signs with "Olympic Cycling Track" looming, and it turned out that fourteen years in advance, the course for the Olympic road race had also been delivered ready-made. Just as the training site of the Dutch national team, on the campus of Qatar University, had all the contours of an Olympic village. Within the enormous walled complex were no fewer than six training sites, surrounded by a perfect infrastructure and countless apartment complexes. One more coat of paint over it and this accommodation too is ready for use again. Can't does not exist in Qatar. It was also striking how quickly things shifted during the World Cup, just as they did earlier with the exodus of refugees in Afghanistan. Qatar was the first to create an air bridge to Kabul and ensured that some of the refugees related to the Netherlands could also leave the country after the Dutch government acted too late. Speed of action, which was also evident during the World Cup. Because the largest flow of visitors in the history of the country, founded only in 1951, was expected, only foreigners in possession of a match ticket were initially admitted. After two weeks, when the influx of supporters was well under control, everyone was allowed back in. If you had to justify your trip to Qatar in the Netherlands, more people than ever were visiting the country. Not from the Netherlands and Western Europe, but from the American, Asian and African continents. One indication was the fan zones. While the Johan Cruijff ArenA was closed after a week due to a lack of interest from the Dutch legion, the Al Bidda Park in Doha was eventually visited by 1.4 million visitors.

New world order

While the Netherlands has turned away from Qatar, a different process has been underway elsewhere on earth. For example, after the World Cup was awarded in 2010, the population increased from 1,750,000 to 3 million. Almost a doubling in 12 years. For Emir Tamin bin Hamad el Thani, this is an indication that he must continue to focus on culture and sports to ensure his country's growth. In doing so, Qatar hooks up with the new world order. As in world politics, America, Asia and the Middle East are also setting the tone in sports, under the guise of "who pays, decides. Whereby Europe is increasingly being transformed into a glorified Third World continent in this domain dominated by billions. Take the financing of the World Cup. While Dutch companies and the KNVB sponsors hardly dared to advertise, all sponsor packages for Qatar were sold out. These 23 sponsors accounted for 1.3 billion euros (29 percent of sales), but interesting is also the composition of these 23 companies. Only Adidas is from Europe, the others are from Qatar (5), Asia (7) and America (10). After Qatar, in terms of the range of FIFA sponsors, there is no stopping there at all. Ranging from Crypto.com from Singapore to Xero (small business through social media) from New Zealand and BYJUs (Tech from India) to Visit Las Vegas, a marketing agency related to the American gambling city. And what about Calm, a San Francisco-based organization specializing in meditation and solving sleep problems? It makes it clear once again how the KNVB is lagging behind the rapidly changing world of commercial top sports. Instead of lobbying for better fees for clubs and better conditions for the merchandising of apparel sponsor Nike (there was hardly an Orange jersey for sale in Qatar), the soccer association did not mince its words, but rather statements. It made painfully clear how association president Just Spee and director of professional soccer Marianne van Leeuwen lack an international network and a political antenna for relevant developments. They walked around Qatar like cats in a strange warehouse.

MASTERS Magazine