OPINION: The World Cup Effect
Participation in sport as a political statement is an accepted practice. The use of sport as an exercise of sot and not coercive power, especially in international relations, is one of the tools available to nations who want to inluence and even control the world order.
Winning the right in 2010 to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup turned out just to be the beginning of the controversies that would engulf the country. Rumors of payoffs and payolalled the air as holding the Cup in Qatar would mean revising the European football calendar and traditional schedules: World Cups are usually held in July-August.
So, that was it and the attention of the world was guided towards the games and not to those “distractions” — never mind if thousands of migrant workers’ rights may have been abused and lives lost. The death of Mahsa Amini on Sept. 16 triggered protests, the ferocity of which has perhaps not been known in Iran since the fall of the monarchy led by the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. For the past three months, various sectors of Iranian society have joined in solidarity with the protesters. And the protests have gone beyond the issue of the hijab law and its implementation. The hijab was made obligatory for all women in 1983, four years after the overthrowing of the Shah.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Ronaldo a solitary figure after being benched at World CupLUSAIL: Cristiano Ronaldo was a solitary figure as he walked off the field following a World Cup match in which he was not the center of attention. He'd come off the bench in...
Read more »
Spain in mourning, local Moroccans rejoice at World Cup surpriseSpain fans were left in tears on Tuesday after the team crashed out of the World Cup on penalties to Morocco, whose fans filled the streets with cheers, flares and flags from Barcelona to Madrid and the enclave of Melilla. WorldCup2022
Read more »
Belief is Croatia’s biggest weapon vs Brazil at World Cup - BusinessMirrorDOHA, Qatar—In terms of population, there's no contest between Brazil and Croatia. “Brazil has 200 million people, we only have four million,” Croatia coach Zlatko Dalić said Tuesday. “So we are pretty much like a suburb of a major city in Brazil.” Indeed, Croatia is one of the least populous countries who qualified for this World
Read more »
Poland leader backs down from World Cup players’ bonus - BusinessMirrorWARSAW, Poland—Poland’s prime minister on Tuesday backed down from his initial declaration to award bonuses to the national soccer team for it World Cup performance amid high inflation and hardship in the country. It was a sudden reversal by Mateusz Morawiecki, who just hours earlier said he believed the players had earned some kind of
Read more »
Ronaldo a solitary figure after being benched at World Cup - BusinessMirrorLUSAIL, Qatar—Cristiano Rolando was a solitary figure as he walked off the field following a World Cup match in which he was not the center of attention. He’d come off the bench in a 6-1 victory over Switzerland on Tuesday that moved Portugal into the quarterfinals. Ronaldo's 21-year-old replacement scored a hat trick in the win—a performance sure to
Read more »
Morocco beats Spain on penalties to advance at World Cup - BusinessMirrorAL RAYYAN, Qatar—The first World Cup held in an Arab nation has produced the Arab world's first quarterfinalist. Morocco became only the fourth African country to reach the quarterfinals at the biggest soccer tournament in the world by beating Spain 3-0 in a penalty shootout after a 0-0 draw through extra time. The Moroccans were playing in
Read more »