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    Zohran Mamdani says Fifa putting profit before fans with World Cup dynamic pricing

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    New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has launched a public petition against Fifa’s use of dynamic pricing for World Cup tickets, telling the Guardian that it amounts to an “affront to the game.”Mamdani’s rise from little-known state assemblyman to heavily favored Democratic frontrunner for the mayoralty of the largest city in the United States has been one of the political stories of the year – not least because he identifies as a socialist, and has stumped for policies that most in his party either do not believe in, or are hesitant to support publicly.Chief among Mamdani’s focuses has been affordability – and in an exclusive interview with the Guardian’s Football Weekly podcast set to drop on Thursday, he made clear that is the basis for his action against Fifa, which will stage next year’s World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada.“I have long been quite troubled by how the supposed stewards of the game have opted for profit time and time again at the expense of the people that love this game,” said Mamdani. “And I think what is stunning to me is these demands that we are putting forward, they are just demands that go back to what [Fifa] has done in previous World Cups. And yet what they are seeing with the World Cup here in the United States, Mexico and Canada is the prospect of increasing their revenues up close to 400% compared to what they were in Qatar.”Mamdani dipped into World Cup history, saying that the last time the men’s World Cup was held in the United States, in 1994, tickets could be had for less than $200. Indeed, Fifa in 1993 set a low-end ticket price of $25 (worth about $56 in 2025), with the most expensive ticket to the final going for $475 (worth about $1,000 in 2025). Fifa announced that ticket prices for group games in 2026 would start at $60 and hit $6,730 for the best seat at the final, but crucially those are the figures before dynamic pricing takes effect. Both are expected to rise considerably over the course of the multi-phase sales process, which began on Wednesday.“There’s just no chance for so many who love this game so much to actually be able to go and see this,” Mamdani said. “This also has a real impact on the potential for the atmosphere of the World Cup and just how many fans will actually be there. Because so often the people who get the tickets quickest are not the ones who are actually the most eager to be there. They’re the ones who are the most excited at the prospect of a profit.”Mamdani’s petition calls for Fifa to end dynamic pricing for World Cup tickets, set aside 15% of tickets for local residents, and place a cap on the amount tickets are allowed to be resold for on Fifa’s ticketing platform (Fifa will do this for games in Mexico due to local laws, but will not implement caps on its exchange for other World Cup games).“I think that if you don’t ask, you cannot win,” Mamdani said. “I think there’s still so many people who have not even heard of [this] affront to the game. And I’m hopeful just in the last few hours since we’ve launched this, thousands of people have added their names and we’re going to keep making the case.”Mamdani shocked US politics when he won the Democratic nomination for New York City mayor, beating more prominent names, such as former New York governor Andrew Cuomo. However, his win has not been met with universal acclaim – including from his own party. Several prominent Democrats, including House minority leader and fellow New Yorker Hakeem Jeffries, have declined to endorse Mamdani as Cuomo has re-entered the race as an independent, alongside incumbent Eric Adams.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotion“Maybe they support dynamic pricing,” Mamdani joked when asked why his victory has drawn pushback from some in his party. “There are an ever-growing number that are joining our campaign each and every day. And it’s a campaign that started at 1%. Maybe if I had to characterize it in terms of a recent upset, maybe this is the Leicester City of campaigns. And so I think there are still many that we are introducing ourselves to, but I’m excited to earn their support.”Mamdani is a longtime soccer fan who has supported Arsenal since his childhood in Uganda, saying he had magnets of the team’s Invincibles side of 2003-04 on his fridge. He offered the “contested point” that the Gunners are the most popular team in Uganda.“[Former manager] Arsène Wenger was one of the first coaches to bring in a number of African players into the team,” Mamdani said. “And some of my early memories are memories of Kanu, of Lauren, of Kolo Touré, of Emmanuel Eboué, Alex Song … it has been a real part of just my life and my identity and also my willingness to internally believe in that this is the year and this is the season. It’s a good preparation for being a democratic socialist.”Mamdani acknowledged the possibility that, as New York City mayor, he could attend the 2026 World Cup final, where he would be sat near Donald Trump. Mamdani said he expects the US president would be booed, as he was at this year’s US Open men’s final.“There’s no amount of censorship that can quiet the actual response of people when they see this president in person, because we’re talking about someone who is already attacking the very fabric of life in this city,” he said. “It’ll be a place where I will make the case once and again for the working-class New Yorkers that they’re leaving behind.”

    You can listen to the full interview on Thursday’s episode of Football Weekly. More

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      Infantino’s latest Oval Office show reminds us Trump will be inescapable at the 2026 World Cup

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      When Donald Trump remained on stage, grinning in the sun as Chelsea lifted the Club World Cup trophy last month, it was all too easy to treat the incident as a one-off mistake. A moment that said plenty about Trump’s ego, sure. But ultimately, only a moment.Nope. It’s reality. Inescapable. Donald Trump will be everywhere Fifa is in the US, including at the 2026 World Cup – due to start in about 10 months, when Canada and Mexico will co-host.If this much wasn’t clear already after that moment at MetLife Stadium and all the other times Trump or his agenda have affected World Cup affairs, it may have become so after Friday’s Oval Office appearance with Fifa president Gianni Infantino – the eighth reported meeting between the pair since January, and the fifth to take place in public at the White House.Trump wore a signature hat reading “TRUMP WAS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING” – one of his collection that was deemed noteworthy enough to display to world leaders in the middle of high-stakes talks with lives hanging in the balance. He then announced that the attention of the soccer world will once again be on him in December. On the fifth of that month, the World Cup draw will take place not at the Las Vegas Sphere as had been widely expected, but at Washington DC’s Kennedy Center – a historic venue and a worthy place to sort through some ping-pong balls, but also one that is now controlled by Trump, who has installed himself as chair, named himself as host of the institution’s annual honors, overseen upcoming renovations (“there’s nothing like gold,” he said on Friday in reference to his Oval Office redesign), and may soon lend his wife’s name to the opera house.“Some people refer to it as the ‘Trump Kennedy Center,’ but we’re not prepared to do that quite yet,” Trump said on Friday. “Maybe in a week or so.”The World Cup is not federally controlled like the Kennedy Center, but it will now be subject to a similar dynamic. The tournament Trump has taken credit for bringing to the US will take place under his presidency, with the draw and “big press conferences” happening in a venue he controls, put on by an organization run by someone looking to befriend Trump at every turn – including by becoming the Trump Organization’s tenant. There is almost no choice other than to accept that Trump will make sure he is front and center at this tournament – even in spots where he has no business, or where his involvement may be seen as uncouth or inappropriate. It’s a dynamic Americans know well now, more than a decade into Trump’s rise.After Trump’s announcement, Infantino allowed him to hold the single most valuable hardware in men’s soccer, the World Cup trophy – not unheard of for heads of state, but more uncommon when accompanied with Infantino’s comment: “Since you are a winner, of course, you can as well touch it.”Trump asked if he could keep the trophy afterward, and it was not immediately clear that he was joking, given that Infantino let him keep the Club World Cup trophy, where it has been on display in the Oval Office ever since.Trump made this latest World Cup announcement in practically the same breath as he expounded on his latest imposition on the American people – a strong-arm takeover of Washington DC, which he called a “crime-infested rat hole” despite the fact that the Justice Department had previously reported a 30-year low in violent crime in the capital. Trump continued to promote his crackdown later on, with the trophy directly in front of him on the Resolute Desk, as if it was a microphone meant to amplify his message. When Trump got to talking about immigration, Infantino moved the trophy out of the way.When prompted by Trump on Friday, Infantino – rather than demurring to comment on the domestic affairs of a foreign country – gave a solemn “oh yes” to express approval of the president’s plan for DC. It’s a plan Trump said he intends to spread to other American cities, mentioning Chicago specifically, but one can easily imagine that any city that voted against him – like 10 of the 11 US host cities for the upcoming World Cup – would be on the list.“Johnny”, as Trump calls Infantino, then gifted him a ceremonial ticket to the World Cup final – row 1, seat 1.Given all of this, expect the World Cup final camera to linger on Trump’s face longer than many of the players, coaches, and team staff who will have worked all their professional lives to get to that point.You’ll see him at the World Cup before then, too. He’ll boast endlessly about how well the tournament is going, only changing tack if things get so bad it’s obvious to everyone, in which case he’ll blame someone else (watch your back, “Johnny”). He’ll do at least one half-time interview on Fox, which is broadcasting the tournament in the US. Alexi Lalas, a big fan of Trump’s Maga movement, will shake his hand. Don’t rule out a gold-encrusted seat waiting for Trump at the final and any other games he chooses to attend.There can be no doubt now – the World Cup is not a guest in the house Trump runs. It is his plaything. And Fifa appears happy to do anything it takes for things to remain that way lest world football’s governing body be discarded or, worse, made a target.The World Cup, beneath all of the commercialism, is almost comically pure-hearted. It’s a celebration of the most popular sport in the world. It gives people across the world something in common to talk about, to bond over, to yell at. That feeling goes double for the host nations, and it’s a large part of the tournament’s singular power. It’s why it’s so coveted by countries that rule through authoritarian means – and that now arguably includes the US under TrumpIndelible, sublime moments will still happen at the 2026 tournament. People will still take joy, hurt, anger, and feelings from them. But those moments will be punctuated by Trump – eternally encroaching on even the most elevated of emotional experiences.If this news drives you to boo, ready your vocal cords. If it drives you to act, start thinking about what you want that to look like. If it thrills you, pace yourself. Whichever way, it’s time to get used to it. More

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      Gianni Infantino and Donald Trump have taken the 2026 World Cup for themselves | Leander Schaerlaeckens

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      Two men held a press event in the Oval Office last week to announce a taskforce that would work to resolve the logistical problems surrounding the 2026 World Cup in North America, which were largely created by one of them.Both men were in their element. One, Donald Trump, received toady genuflection and a large, golden … thing (actually the Club World Cup trophy). The other, Fifa president Gianni Infantino, occasioned to bask in the proximity to real power, was affectionately referred to as “The king of soccer, I guess, in a certain way” by Trump.Theirs may be a marriage of convenience, but it seems to be a very happy one.At the event, Infantino made unsourced claims of an economic impact of $40bn and the creation of 200,000 jobs, all delivered by the 2025 Club World Cup and the subsequent World Cup proper. Trump demonstratively signed a piece of paper that made the World Cup taskforce official.The whole thing felt little more than symbolic. Such a taskforce doesn’t require a presidential decree, for a start. But also because Infantino knows full well, as did everyone else in the room, that the president is unlikely to rouse himself for a cause he seems to barely understand.“Can the US win?” Trump asked at one point, interrupting Infantino, who ignored the question.“First time it’s ever been in this part of the world,” proclaimed Trump, apparently referring to the World Cup. Never mind that three men’s World Cups have already been staged in North America – in Mexico in 1970 and 1986, and in 1994 in the United States.Infantino proceeded to theatrically show Trump the new Fifa Club World Cup trophy, a gaudy, golden behemoth that unlocks some rings orbiting its center with a key, which seemed to impress the president. Then the Swiss handed Trump an official match ball with the latter’s signature printed on it, tickling the last of the president’s erogenous zones that had not yet been activated.By the time he was done, Infantino had fully draped the tournament around one of his favorite strongmen. If it wasn’t already obvious, the 23rd edition of the Fifa World Cup will be remembered as The Donald Trump World Cup (trademark pending). Just as other mega-events have been hijacked for political ends, this World Cup will be leveraged for the glorification of a leader to a degree not seen since Benito Mussolini dominated the 1934 World Cup in Italy or the Videla regime’s stage crafting of the 1978 World Cup in Argentina. While a quarter of the matches will be hosted by Canada and Mexico – introducing a separate set of issues owing to Trump’s erratic saber-rattling with his neighbors – the dominant narrative of the tournament has seemingly already been set.View image in fullscreen“When we made this,” Trump said of the 2026 World Cup, “it was made during my first term, and it was so sad, because I said, ‘Can you imagine, I’m not going to be president? And that’s too bad.’ And what happened is they rigged the election, and I became president and so that was a good thing.” Presumably, he was referring to the 2020 election, which he lost with no evidence of rigging, and his subsequent re-election in 2024.It always seemed unlikely that the sport would be able to keep Trump from claiming soccer’s signature tournament as his own. But Infantino has seen to it that something like the opposite is accomplished instead. The Fifa president, the proud holder of the Russian Federation’s Order of Friendship medal, has written a type of playbook on cozying up to autocrats – or democratically elected heads of state with autocratic inclinations – and entering into mutually beneficial bargains with them. They are lent the World Cup for whatever stains they need to sportswash away and handed a place of prominence at the tournament’s key moments, and Infantino is given a pliant environment from which to source the profits that will keep his patronage machine humming.That same week, Fifa also announced that the World Cup final will be interrupted by a half-time show for the first time in its history. As well as casting its lot with a historically unpopular US president, Fifa will also indulge in all the worst impulses of American sports.The 2026 edition of the world’s biggest sporting event, which somehow retains its prestige and credibility despite the best efforts of its guardians over the last century, will already count more teams and more games than any before it. The notion of expanding from 48 to 64 teams for the 2030 edition has already been soft-launched at the Fifa council.More, more, more, until every last inch and second and ounce of the World Cup has been commercialized and monetized. This is what the full Infantino-ing of Fifa looks like, mirroring the Trump-ification of the next World Cup co-hosts. Each grifting as hard as they possibly can.After the Oval Office event, Infantino made another appearance with Trump, at a White House crypto summit. Infantino demonstrated his labor-intensive trophy again. And then he cut to the chase. “Fifa is very, very interested to develop a Fifa coin,” he told the roundtable of crypto people. “If there is anyone here who is interested to team up with Fifa, here we are.”Of course they are.

      Leander Schaerlaeckens is at work on a book about the United States men’s national soccer team, out in 2026.

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      Doubts raised over US travel system during 2026 World Cup and 2028 Olympics

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      The United States is unprepared for the burdens placed on its air travel system when the country hosts the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, according to a report released on Wednesday.The US Travel Association, a non-profit that represents the travel industry, commissioned a report written by former government officials and industry experts. The report raises concerns about visas, creaking infrastructure and poor security technology.The report says that the World Cup, Olympics and Paralympics, 2025 Ryder Cup and celebrations for the US’s 250th birthday could draw in an estimated 40 million visitors to the country.“We’re not ready to host the upcoming mega decade of events that will draw millions of domestic and international travelers. This poses risks to our national security and hampers economic growth,” the report says.While the Trump administration has made significant cuts across the government, the US Travel Association said there needs to be investment in visa processing and airport security.“The president has been outspoken about making this the gold standard of World Cups, the best Olympics that has ever been held,” Geoff Freeman, the US Travel Association’s CEO, told ESPN. “To do those things, to achieve those goals, you’ve got to make some of these investments.”Freeman said he had met with White House officials in the last week. He highlighted visa wait times as a particular problem area, with approval times for some countries that may reach the World Cup – such as Colombia – currently running at nearly two years.“People want to come, but they’re not coming,” Freeman said. “It gets down to these visa wait times. It gets down to the customs inefficiencies. It gets down to a perception in instances that people aren’t welcome. We’re very concerned.”skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionThe US will co-host the World Cup with Mexico and Canada, although most of the game will take place in the US. Concerns have also been raised about extreme temperatures players could face during the tournament. More

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      What kind of host will Donald Trump be for the World Cup and Olympics?

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      Very soon after the outcome of the US presidential election was clear, Fifa’s president issued an old photograph of himself shaking hands with a beaming, football-clasping, Donald Trump.“Congratulations Mr President! We will have a great Fifa World Cup and a great Fifa Club World Cup in the United States of America!” Gianni Infantino wrote on social media. It was the latest example of Infantino’s oleaginous flattery of Trump, whom in 2018 Infantino called “part of the Fifa team”. And vice versa, it seems.In January 2020, during Trump’s first impeachment trial, Infantino introduced him at a dinner for CEOs in Davos and said Trump had the same “fibre” as world-class footballers. “He is a competitor,” Infantino said. “He says actually what many think, but more importantly, he does, then, what he says.” Trump called Infantino “my great friend”.The US will be the centre of the sporting world during Trump’s second term as hosts of the 2025 Club World Cup, the 2026 men’s World Cup and the 2028 Olympic Games. The expanded 48-team tournament in 2026 is a joint effort with Mexico and Canada but most matches will take place in the US. “Football Unites The World!” Infantino added in his victory message to Trump.The next American president’s power to set tone and policy may be problematic, though, given his status as a confrontational figurehead who uses sports as a tool for sowing division and scoring points against rivals, and as a politician whose nativist conservative beliefs run contrary to the progressive internationalist values espoused by many leagues and governing bodies.The competitions are money-making operations for Fifa and the International Olympic Committee and public relations opportunities for the hosts. “Every time countries host the Olympics and the World Cup they’re trying to get their message out to the world, trying to use it as an opportunity to show off. That’s kind of what hosting these mega-events are about,” says Adrien Bouchet, director of The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport. “His idea of what the United States is these days – it’ll be interesting to see what it entails.”Trump is a leader with authoritarian instincts who swept to power with a dark and violent vision of “a nation that is dying”, calling the US “like a garbage can for the rest of the world to dump the people that they don’t want”. His political platform could spark tension between the culturally open and cosmopolitan cities that will stage events and a national government stoking insularity and intolerance.If his anti-democracy aspirations are realised, the American showpieces are at risk of becoming the latest in a lengthening line of mega-events in illiberal countries. Since 2008, the Olympics have been held in Russia and twice in China; there have also been World Cups in Russia and Qatar, with tournaments in Morocco and Saudi Arabia on the horizon.The 2026 World Cup is the first “to incorporate human rights in its bidding process, which requires the US government to adhere to the highest human rights standards,” says Andrea Florence, director of the Sport & Rights Alliance, a coalition of advocacy groups. “Trump’s previous disregard to international human rights obligations could have far-reaching consequences, not only jeopardising protections in the US but potentially setting a troubling precedent for future global sporting events.“Trump’s track record of exploiting workers and weaponising trans women and girls in sport, potential plans for mass deportation of immigrants and turning military forces against citizens, and general racist, misogynistic and transphobic rhetoric are areas of particular concern – all of which can and will exacerbate human rights violations at mega sporting events.”Like Trump, Infantino spends much of his time in Florida: Fifa’s legal and ethics divisions are newly based in Miami. Fifa promises it is “committed to respecting all internationally recognised human rights and shall strive to promote the protection of these rights.”But rights groups have already sounded the alarm over Fifa’s handling of Saudi Arabia’s uncontested bid. “Fifa’s failure to implement its own human rights policies in relation to Saudi Arabia’s bid to host the 2034 World Cup make it all the more important that national, state and local officials in the US, Canada and Mexico move forward to implement the 2026 human rights framework,” said Minky Worden, director of global initiatives at Human Rights Watch.With stadiums already built, the 2026 World Cup presents less risk to construction workers than Qatar 2022, Saudi Arabia or the 2030 edition that will largely be held in Morocco, Portugal and Spain. But Trump’s agenda contradicts some of the pledges outlined in Fifa’s 2026 Human Rights Framework, which says the organisation aims to make the World Cup “one of the most diverse and inclusive celebrations of all time”.The framework highlights a commitment to support potentially at-risk groups, including women, ethnic minorities, disabled people, immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers, migrant workers, LGBTQ+ people and journalists. These are all sections of society that Trump has attacked, whether through rhetoric, policy, or both.Many American sports bodies, including all the major leagues and the US Soccer Federation, have incorporated Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives into their corporate cultures and hiring practices in an attempt to boost support for, and representation of, minority groups.View image in fullscreenThese types of initiatives are certain to be targets for the Trump administration, and perhaps the conservative-dominated US supreme court. This year a right-wing legal group founded by Stephen Miller, an architect of Trump’s anti-immigration policies, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the NFL arguing that its Rooney Rule, which obliges teams to interview minority candidates for senior posts, is illegal.The Olympics and World Cup were awarded to the US during Trump’s first term and he clearly feels a sense of ownership: as the Paris Games closed, Trump credited himself with securing the Olympics. Though Trump is a friend of Fifa, relations are considerably cooler between the president-elect and the IOC, which has not commented on his victory.After some Christians criticised segments of the Paris Olympics opening ceremony as blasphemous, Trump labelled the show “a disgrace” and promised to prevent any sacrilegious content appearing in 2028.Friction between Democrat-run cities and Republican state and national leaders is a feature of American politics and it is not hard to imagine a war of words breaking out between LA 2028 organisers and the White House given the $900m in federal infrastructure funds committed ahead of the Games and since California is a liberal state Trump has routinely assailed as a hellscape. In 2020, Karen Bass, now the mayor of Los Angeles, called Trump a racist who “essentially [gives] license to racists”.Environmental goals are now routine for sporting events – LA wants to be “no car” – but it is hard to imagine a Republican administration will push organisers to keep their promises given that Trump has called climate change “a hoax” and intends to scupper clean energy projects.Trump is also expected to roll back federal protections for gay and transgender people. He targeted two female boxing Olympic gold medallists in his election campaign, claiming they are men as a justification for his plan to revoke anti-discrimination measures issued by the Biden administration. “We will of course keep men out of women’s sports,” he said – a stance that seems sure to put him at loggerheads with the IOC and other governing bodies who set gender eligibility criteria.Hurling sports deeper into the culture wars also brings risks for sponsors. In September the IOC lost one of its key supporters, Toyota, with the automaker’s chairman complaining that the Games are “increasingly political”.But Trump has sought to blur the lines between sport and politics, looking for confrontations with the NFL, NBA and the US women’s soccer team over national anthem protests against civil rights abuses. Using sports as a patriotic purity test, he has termed players with opposing political stances as un-American and said the US team were eliminated from the 2023 Women’s World Cup because players were too woke and “openly hostile to America”.He can again be expected to strain the structural tensions in American professional leagues, exploiting and widening schisms between owners, players and fans. A Guardian analysis found that nearly 95% of total political contributions to federal elections since 2020 from owners of major-league North American sports teams went to Republican causes. But many players are Democrats. Basketball’s biggest star, LeBron James, endorsed Kamala Harris, while the NBA commissioner, Adam Silver, donated to the Harris campaign.“He uses sports to divide people because so many people pay attention to sports,” Bouchet says. “There’s always going to be social tensions as it relates to politics. Unfortunately I think the next four years are probably going to be a rocky road.”Trump has cultivated friendships with sports personalities and spent election night in the company of the NHL legend Wayne Gretzky, Dana White, CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and the 2024 US Open golf champion Bryson DeChambeau. As well as using sports to burnish his celebrity status and seek political advantage, the president-elect has a direct financial stake through his golf courses, three of which hosted tournaments last year on the Saudi-financed LIV Golf tour, with another stop in 2024.Rory McIlroy expressed optimism this month that Trump can act as a peace broker between LIV and the PGA Tour. “Trump has a great relationship with Saudi Arabia. He’s got a great relationship with golf. He’s a lover of golf. So, maybe. Who knows?” McIlroy said. If Trump were to pressure Ukraine into a ceasefire in the war with Russia, Vladimir Putin may see an opening, perhaps with Trump’s help, to push for Russia’s reintegration into Fifa, Uefa and Olympic competitions.He may be less conciliatory towards Iran, who are likely to qualify for 2026: the country was allegedly behind a plot to kill him. Stadiums should be packed in a diverse nation of more than 335 million people. But Trump has vowed to reinstate and expand his first-term “Muslim travel ban”, which affected countries including Iran and Nigeria.Citizens of only 42 countries are allowed visa-free entry to the US and in some places it may already be too late for foreign fans to apply for a tourist visa to attend the finals. Last week the wait for an appointment in Bogota was 710 days; in Istanbul it was 692 days. Given Trump’s intention to devote resources to mass deportations and curtailing legal immigration, reducing Biden-era backlogs for visitors is unlikely to be a priority.Even if restrictions are temporarily eased for the tournaments, upheaval at the border, combined with an abrasive and isolationist foreign policy and economic stresses from Trump’s proposed trade tariffs, may strain relations with allies, dissuade visitors and tarnish the US’s image abroad; hardly conducive to a festive atmosphere for international sports’ biggest parties. More

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      Qatar’s World Cup of woe: inside the 18 November Guardian Weekly

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      Qatar’s World Cup of woe: inside the 18 November Guardian WeeklyGeopolitical football. Plus: a world beyond 8 billion people
      Get the Guardian Weekly magazine delivered to your home address Ordinarily a football World Cup would be a moment for celebration, a time to savour sport’s power to unite nations and a glorious distraction from the problems of the day. Not this time: the 2022 tournament has been mired in controversy since it was awarded to Qatar 12 years ago. The small but ultra-wealthy Middle Eastern state thought that hosting the world’s most-watched sporting event would showcase it as a major player on the global stage. But instead Qatar has come in for severe criticism on a number of fronts, in particular for its treatment of migrant workers, anti LGBTQ+ laws, and restrictions on freedom of speech.“A deflated football in the desert seemed like a perfect metaphor to capture the controversy,” says illustrator Barry Downard of his cover artwork for this week’s Guardian Weekly magazine.In a special report, Patrick Wintour asks whether Qatar has lost at geopolitical football before the action has even begun. The cartoonist David Squires brilliantly brings to life the plight of a migrant worker turned whistleblower and, in the final reckoning, sports writer Jonathan Liew tries to salvage some actual football from the diplomatic wreckage.On that theme, further back in the features section there’s a reminder of what the game should be about as we meet some of the young people who will be cheering on their teams from afar.Another dubious global milestone was reached this week as the world’s population passed 8 billion, according to UN estimates. In a the first of a series of dispatches from the frontline of population growth, Hannah Ellis-Petersen reports from India, which next year will overtake China as the planet’s most populous nation, on what the shift means for the world.The US midterm elections saw the Democrats fare better than expected, retaining control of the Senate despite looking likely to lose control of the House by a small margin to the Republicans. The more consequential outcome may be for Donald Trump: Chris McGreal and David Smith ask if the former president’s grip on the GOP is weakening, and if his rival Ron DeSantis’s time may be coming.If your settlement is at existential risk from climate change, is the answer to move it? Guardian Australia’s Pacific editor Kate Lyons visits Fiji’s vulnerable Pacific islands, where communities have started to do just that – discovering that it is not nearly as simple as it sounds.Get the Guardian Weekly magazine delivered to your home addressTopicsQatarInside Guardian WeeklyWorld CupWorld Cup 2022Middle East and north AfricaPopulationIndiaChinaReuse this content More

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      How Dubai and Abu Dhabi See the World Cup

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      With the Euros over, attention outside the UK is turning to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. The focus in Britain, quite rightly, remains on the racist abuse directed at black members of the English football team and the extent to which the prime minister and the home secretary contribute to enabling a culture in which such abuse can flourish.

      Is Football Still a Bastion of White Supremacy?

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      In the Gulf, the lucrative rights to World Cup packages are now being awarded. In Kuwait, ITL World has been appointed the sales agent. The company’s CEO, Siddeek Ahmed, could hardly contain his delight at being able to offer “fans a unique opportunity to purchase ticket-inclusive hospitality packages” for the World Cup. In addition to game tickets, the packages include flights, accommodation, transport and “leisure” programs. According to Arabian Business, the deals for the main venue, the 80,000-seat Lusail Stadium, will run from $14,350 to $74,200. That buys you all 10 matches hosted there, including the quarter-final, semi-final and final. If you are not short on cash, you can pick up a 40-seat suite at the stadium for just $2.6 million.

      In Dubai, Expat Sport Tourism DMCC won the rights, with its website urging football fans to be a part of history to see the first World Cup held in the Arab world. “From the pinnacle in high end corporate experiences to individual hospitality solutions for football fans, we can cater for all those wishing to be part of FIFA World Cup 2022” is how the firm put it.

      Not Everyone Is Happy

      With an estimated 1.5 million fans heading to Qatar next year, Dubai, with its well-established tourism and entertainment sectors, sees itself as ideally placed to cash in on the World Cup bonanza. Yet others in the United Arab Emirates are less welcoming.

      Embed from Getty Images

      Mohammed al-Hammadi is the president of the Emirates Journalists Association and editor-in-chief of the newspaper Alroeya, based in Abu Dhabi. Among the core values listed on the paper’s website are “apply best practice in line with the journalism codes” and “be an objective and trustworthy information tool.”

      Hammadi is a strong proponent of normalization. He spoke at a webinar in October 2020, after the UAE and Bahrain had announced their plan to normalize relations with Israel. The event was organized by a pro-Israeli think tank, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP). Hammadi said he believed in both peace and advancing the rights of Palestinians, but people like him who “speak in favor of peace are stigmatized … and find themselves falling under attack.” He added that the word normalizing “has a very negative connotation in our region.”

      In June, he drew the ire of African journalists with a ham-fisted attempt to have them join a coordinated media attack on the World Cup in Qatar. They adopted a resolution denouncing efforts to “use Africa and its institutions as political football in order to settle scores in a political dispute.” The statement said:

      “While journalists in the East African region struggle to preserve their independence and freedom from rogue government and commercial interests that threaten the integrity of journalists, an outside actor is behind attempts to manipulate, divert and involve journalists in an issue completely outside the scope and powers of journalists and their unions.
      In the same way that journalists and their unions in East Africa are calling, confronting and protesting against governments for their interference in the work of journalists and the curtailment of their freedoms, all foreign powers that have a negative and false agenda must be condemned and publicly challenged as a matter of principle and consistency.”

      Twelve days later, the website Emirates Leaks, citing what it called “reliable sources,” alleged that Hammadi had attempted to pressure the heads of the journalism unions of Norway and Finland. According to the site, he wanted them to influence journalism unions in Asia and Africa to “coordinate attacks against Qatar and tarnish its image before hosting the World Cup.”

      His efforts occasioned a written question on June 23 in the European Parliament from Fulvio Martusciello. The Italian MEP accused the head of the Emirates Journalists Association of leading a smear campaign against Qatar: “Al Hammadi asked the Finnish and Norwegian Journalists Federations to exercise influence on journalists unions that he supports financially to engage in the Abu Dhabi campaign and offend Qatar. He also tried to offer them financial bribes and expensive gifts in return for achieving Abu Dhabi’s inflammatory goals.”

      So, while Dubai can barely contain its World Cup excitement, Abu Dhabi appears set to continue its anti-Qatar campaign. Imagine for a moment that the UAE was a football side and its two big stars had separate agendas and were playing only for themselves. That is not a winning formula and it’s something a good manager, like England’s Gareth Southgate, would quickly sort out.

      *[This article was originally published by Arab Digest, a partner organization of Fair Observer.]

      The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Fair Observer’s editorial policy. More