The worst place to host a modern World Cup was Argentina in 1978.
Even if Putin already invaded several countries even before hosting the 2018 World Cup, and even if you know all the complaints about the current World Cup - in Argentina it was right in the neighborhood.
Between 10,000 and 30,000 people disappeared in Argentina in the "dirty war" of the years of the dictatorship that also raged during the World Cup.
They were abducted to concentration camps, where they were tortured and murdered, while the worst camp of all, ESMA, housed in the Mechanics' School of the Argentine Navy - was not abandoned in the distant prairies.
It was a ten minute walk from the River Plate stadium that hosted the final.
Years later, surviving prisoners testified that sometimes torture was stopped for 90 minutes and more time for injuries during the games.
What protest took place then?
almost nothing.
A year before the games, the French newspaper "Le Monde" suggested boycotting the games.
In the decades that followed, especially during the glory period of Barcelona at the beginning of the present century, they tried to engineer a story as if the great Johan Cruyff was absent from the games due to political reasons.
unreasonable nonsense.
If a great player of his generation boycotted the games politically, why didn't he say so?
In 2008 Cruyff put an end to his loneliness when he admitted that he withdrew from the national team for the (legitimate in itself) reason that his family had gone through a kidnapping incident a few months before.
No team thought of boycotting the games precisely at a time when boycotts of sporting events were common.
The 1976, 1980 and 1984 Olympic Games were widely boycotted.
The Soviet Union did not make it to the World Cup in West Germany in 1974 not because of a boycott of the host, but because of a boycott of Chile who was going to host them in the playoffs
The only team that really struggled morally was actually Argentina, in an era when every person in the country knew directly or indirectly a story of a missing person.
Coach Cesar Luis Menotti, with political views very far from the regime, urged his players to fight "not for the junta, but for the metal workers, butchers, laborers and bakers in the stands".
In the old black and white photographs you will see the only objection: there is a black stripe at the base of the goalie beams.
Initiative of maintenance personnel.
They didn't see it exactly as a protest - more as a memorial to the missing people.
The position of the footballers was formulated by another great Dutch player, Johan Nyskens: "The world is full of shit. If we involve politics in sports, we won't be able to play anywhere."
The goal beam is black as a sign of protest, while Argentina celebrates, photo: AFP
It is easy to protest against Putin, when he is far away from you
Sorry dear readers for the language - in 2022 there is no less shit in the world.
What's more, we are in an era where athletes are protesting.
Sports boycotts are of course out of bounds, but protests are spreading.
In the current World Cup, Robert Lewandowski will wear the Ukraine captain's armband on the Poland uniform in protest of the Russian invasion.
Harry Kane and Manuel Neuer, the captains of England and Germany, will wear the colors of the pride flag on the arm in protest of the host's attitude towards homosexuals.
They were joined by captains from nine other national teams.
The writer of these lines personally has sympathy for these protests, but let's take the courage factor with very limited responsibility.
It is easy to protest against Putin when he is away, but he already invaded Georgia and also Ukraine before hosting the 2018 World Cup and no one protested against him in Russia.
Qatar, with all its wealth, is an easy target.
She has nothing to do, and it's a good thing, in the face of an English or German protest.
She will be well behaved during the games even if gay fans kiss demonstratively.
You will not find courage here.
Get back to me when English or German athletes protest on Chinese or Russian soil against the regime.
Putin makes a living at the World Cup in Russia, photo: AFP
Many of the protests against Qatar center around the foreign workers who died in Qatar during preparations for the Games.
The "Guardian" published an investigation according to which 6,500 of them - most of them from the Indian subcontinent, Africa and the Philippines - have died since work began on hosting the games.
In contrast, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said that "three died in the construction of the stadiums, three too many, but only three".
The truth is probably really in the middle.
Foreign workers are employed in very difficult, economic and physical conditions.
There was a real increase in mortality around the construction of the infrastructure for the Games, but starting in 2019, following international pressure, the laws regarding foreign workers were slightly improved and their situation improved.
And here is something that is unpleasant to write.
Today's world has a poor record in occupational accidents, and treatment of foreign immigrants is not an acceptable reason for an international boycott.
If such things interest you, then far too many foreign workers also die on construction sites in Israel without sufficient punishment of those responsible.
This also happens in Europe and certainly in China or Brazil, which have hosted international events in the past.
The human rights situation in Qatar - women, homosexuals, foreign workers - is disgraceful.
She is also suspected of financing terrorism.
But with a flipping stomach one can say the following: in a relative calculation of predation and carrion, Qatar is not the worst country to have hosted a World Cup or a major international sporting event.
That's not the problem.
This is not the reason for the discomfort from the World Cup in Qatar.
Protest of the LGBT community against the tournament in Qatar, photo: AFP
Criminal sale of the biggest football tournament in the world
Sans Erzik, a Turkish banker and football businessman, and Hany Abu Rida, an Egyptian engineer and football businessman, are names that probably didn't interest you much, but they are two of the most extraordinary people in world football.
According to another investigation in the "Guardian", they were in the FIFA conference room that awarded the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 World Cup to Qatar. They are the only two in the room who have not been convicted or charged with any criminal act since then. All the rest - including the then president of FIFA, Sep Blatter, and the president of UEFA and the legendary soccer player Michel Platini, removed, suspended, signed plea deals or whistleblowers. They came, the corrupt, from Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, Asia, Europe and North America. An orgy of corruption. And precisely two righteous (seemingly) In Sodom/FIFA they are from the vilified Middle East!
Michel Platini.
The legend of the past got dirty with politics and bribery, photo: AFP
And yet, after legal authorities exposed almost every voter in the ballot as corrupt, this World Cup kicks off in Qatar.
About problematic hosts in the past - the junta's Argentina and Putin's Russia - it can be said that at least as soccer countries they deserved their turn to host the World Cup.
This time it's a complete whim.
Qatar has done nothing in football, and even in the context of Asian or Arab football, it is nothing.
Even in the small pool of the Gulf principalities she achieved nothing.
Simply a criminal sale of the biggest tournament in the world.
And all in broad daylight.
Judge Louis Brandeis' statement that "sunlight kills" does not hold true in the world of FIFA. In order to make the deal, the entire soccer season was disrupted, risking the health of the players.
Qatar is of course not alone.
Other sheikhs, such as the owners of Manchester City, and Russian oligarchs have also bought European football teams to whiten their names.
This is almost the main economic phenomenon in football in the 12th century.
The players who will play in the coming month did not choose the host and did not corrupt football.
Decisive goals will go down in history like the goals of Pele or Rossi or Iniesta in previous generations.
23 of them will finish the tournament as world champions, and they will be given as much respect as the champions before them.
In the end, football has been sold to the corrupt, and the Qatar World Cup is their victory party.
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