Every four years, a country hosts the world’s soccer players to compete in the FIFA World Cup. FIFA, which stands for Fédération Internationale de Football Association (International Federation of Association), organizes the World Cup. The FIFA Congress votes every year on who will host.

This year, Qatar is hosting the World Cup. Some people disagree with the decision to host it here, and conspiracy theories abound.

One of the main controversies is that  Qatar bribed its way into hosting the country. According to the New York Times, the Department of Justice confirmed that Qatar’s representatives in the FIFA Congress had bribed their officials. No one thought that Qatar would host a world cup. According to Forbes.com, the country has a GDP of $167,000,000 USD. With all that money, it’s hard not to theorize on what they use it for. That may be an asset in getting hosting  privileges. 

Senior Miles Willams shares how he doesn’t think the bribery scandal is a big deal.

“All they really want is advertisement for their country,” said Willams. “I mean, it’s sad that FIFA accepts bribery… [but] it’s not harming anyone.” 

Another issue that some people have with the World Cup being hosted in Qatar is that migrant workers suffer for this soccer convention . A large facet of that is how many migrant workers have perished in the process of getting ready for the cup. According to the Washington //Post,  thousands have died over the past 12 years and Qatar says that nothing wrong is happening. Worker’s Welfare and Labour Rights is a group that aims to protect workers that run the World Cup. According to them, 30,000 have been hired for stadium building and a lot have died in the process. This is another reason why some may debate whether a country that is perceived as careless deserves the honor of hosting the World Cup.

Sophomore Youssef Azab feels indifferent about this issue.

“I think it’s a normal amount of human suffering for buildings of this size,” said Azab.

Qatar has also been charged with ignoring the rights of its own citizens. The organization Human Rights Watch says that the country ignores rights such as freedom for women, LGBTQ+ rights, freedom of the press, and freedom of speech. According to the Associated Press, FIFA says to “let football take center stage”. It’s been hard for people to not focus on how human rights may have been violated in the process. Many people have voiced their concerns. Because of that, FIFA has a human rights grievance mechanism in place. This enables someone to report an event in the event of any violation. In the end, the Middle Eastern country is still attacked for not changing. 

Whether or not these issues persist, the players of the world will still compete for the honor of being World Cup Champions in Qatar.