The sports world is looking nervously on as Qatar prepares to host the next World Cup
Hi there, welcome to Plain English. I’m Jeff; JR is the producer; and this is episode 206 of Plain English, the best podcast for practicing English. That’s because we got a bit slower than native speed, so you can understand every word. And if you miss a word, not to worry: you can find a transcript of the program at PlainEnglish.com/206.
Coming up on today’s program: The next World Cup will be in Qatar, where the temperatures routinely hit 40 degrees even in the fall, when the tournament will take place. But that’s not the half of the complications with the tournament. Today’s phrasal verb is “look on” and we have a quote of the week from a Brazilian author. I’ll keep you in suspense on who that is.
Scorching Qatar prepares for the World Cup
If you were FIFA, in charge of the world’s most popular sport, and you were looking for a destination country for your quadrennial blowout party, what would factor into your decision? Would you want to choose a country that has a large football-loving population, like previous hosts Brazil or South Africa? Maybe you would choose a country that has a large population of non-football fans that you’d like to convert, say China or America? Surely, you’d want a country with a track record of hosting even medium-sized athletic competitions. You’d definitely want a country that knows how to grow grass.
FIFA chose a country with none of these characteristics: the tiny, scorching oil-rich state of Qatar.
The world’s biggest and most popular sporting event is starting in t-minus three years and the sports world is looking on nervously. Qatar is planning to spend an estimated $220 billion to host the World Cup in the desert, or about $6.4 million for every Qatari citizen.
Despite the rich budget, the World Cup preparations are already off to a difficult start. For one thing, the event dates have been changed from the traditional months of May, June, and July to the milder months of November and December. It is simply too hot in Qatar in the summer, when the average daily temperature is over 40 degrees Celsius (or over 100 degrees Fahrenheit). That’s the average: it can hit 50 once in a while. Moving the dates might mitigate the temperature issue, but it brings up a host of other problems.
This is prime time for the European football leagues like the English Premier League. Australia’s soccer league, the A-League, also plays during this time, so their seasons will be interrupted by the World Cup. It’s also the same time of year as American football. Fox, a broadcasting company in the United States, bought rights to broadcast the World Cup games in the US under the assumption that the Cup would be hosted during the traditional time. Now, the World Cup will conflict with America’s most popular sport, which Fox also covers. This is going to lead to a decline in World Cup viewership in America, a key growing market for soccer worldwide, and an interruption in other soccer leagues around Europe.
How about the fans that visit? A lot of soccer fans like to have a beer—if not at the game, then certainly before and after. That might pose a problem in a country in which drinking alcohol is illegal. Not to worry! Qatar has this covered. You can drink, just as long as it’s in a designated area, such as a pre-approved hotel or bar. Nothing says “party” like drinking in a government-sanctioned bar!
What about FIFA’s values, the image it presents to the world? We mentioned in a previous episode that the World Cup stadiums are going to be outdoors, air-conditioned, and built by migrant laborers under terrible working conditions. That’s not a good look for an international organization in 2019. Pumping ice cold air into an outdoor stadium may not be fully in keeping with FIFA’s stated commitment to environmental sustainability, either, though they say the energy will at least be solar. Oh, and homosexuality is illegal in Qatar and punishable by death.
A soccer game lasts 90 minutes—a couple of hours if you add in halftime. What if you want to do something else while you’re in the country? There aren’t many tourist attractions in Doha. There are some beaches and small museums, but nothing comparable to other host countries. If you wanted to go to the popular and touristy city of Dubai, which is about an hour flight from Doha, you’re out of luck, at least as of today. Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have cut diplomatic ties and travel between the two countries has been closed off.
I mentioned before about growing grass. Qatar has instituted a research and development center to learn how to grow grass for its sports stadiums. Dozens of seeds are being flown in from abroad, and the government is testing them out to see which can grow the best in the scorching heat. This sounds nice, but the quality of the turf is an important contributor to player safety. Players in any sport can be injured if they’re not playing on a similar surface to what they’re used to. If Qatar doesn’t get this right, player safety can be an issue.
Given all of this, how did Qatar win the rights to host the World Cup? They’ve never even qualified for the World Cup! It shouldn’t surprise you that the bidding process was less than fully clean. Foreign media, notably British newspapers, have spent years uncovering campaigns of influence-buying and allegations of outright bribery. But don’t worry: FIFA cleared itself of any wrongdoing.
Soccer is a beautiful game, but an ugly business. Hopefully future bids are cleaner and make more sense for the sport, yikes.
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