The criticism of the World Cup in Qatar was gigantic - it should have stopped when the whistle kicked off. That's what FIFA wanted. But the opposite happens. The vision of the perfect games is shredded, also because the world association makes a fool of itself wherever it can.
The dream of the "best World Cup" ever, the dream of a tournament the world has never seen before, was shattered by Qatar in just the first three days. The crazy speech by FIFA boss Gianni Infantino, the Qatari supporters fleeing the stadium during the opening match of their own national team and the ban on the "One Love" armband and the "LOVE" lettering on the inside collar (!) of the Belgium away shirt - these historical ones Moments of world football have added a few more layers of sand to this already colossal mountain of shame. And so the question arises: What is the title at this world championship actually worth? And is it worth giving up on one's ideals?
Several major national teams answered "yes" to that question on Monday. Yes, the time in the desert is worth giving up one's beliefs. Maybe not from the inside, as the DFB tried to justify, but in public perception. There will now be no compromise bandage on the arm for fear of a yellow card and other sanctions, the extent of which is unknown according to the DFB. However, one had received a "clear threat" from FIFA, which had issued a ban on the narrow, colorful piece of fabric, citing the dress code.
In fact, you can now imagine anything at the world association. Even a termination of the tournament because Infantino suddenly finds football games too political (just kidding, right?!). And yes, even criminal behavior towards the national associations. It's just bitter that they allow themselves to be blackmailed and avoid escalation. Dialogue is good, that is social consensus. But dialogue with an association, with an association boss who betrays his own values in a disgusting way, as an embarrassing kneel for which the world at the side of the Qatari hosts is suddenly far too colorful? The word of FIFA is no longer worth anything. Like that of the Qatari, see beer ban. On Saturday, Infantino confessed that he felt "homosexual" and "disabled", that he could empathize with the suffering of the oppressed, only to have the association announce on Monday that a piece of cloth did not conform to the dress code! Dress code instead of tolerance!
Yes, this absurd set of values will stick to the World Cup trophy, which will be presented by Infantino on December 18th. And so much more will stick to it: the blood of deceased guest workers, the blood of abused people in the queer community, the filth of the system that sacrifices every little bit of morality to greed. And yes, it's not the first time in tournament history that the title has been smeared with death and brutality. In Argentina in 1978, the aggressive military junta took brutal action against insurgents. And the shadow of the illegal annexation of Crimea four years earlier and the Russian combat mission on the part of the Syrian government in the Syrian war since 2015 hung on Russia in 2018. The fact that Vladimir Putin was given the stage for a nice show seems even more absurd this year.
Now, when it comes to the question of how much this World Cup title is still worth, there are also victims: the players. None of them can do anything about the fact that the tournament was awarded twelve years ago in the desert. At that time, many of them were still big children or small teenagers. Demanding a boycott from footballers and their departure from Qatar is quick and easy to formulate. But it would go hand in hand with a shattered dream of a lifetime. Many players will only play one World Cup in their lifetime, although that may be an outdated narrative in view of the gigantic nature of the tournament from 2026, when 48 teams will be at the start.
Can the knee before FIFA somehow be saved? Iran's soccer players showed how courageous protests can be done on Monday. With their internationally admired and celebrated silence during the national anthem, they turned the brutal regime in their own country against them - with unforeseeable consequences. That's the beautiful, brave story of this dirty World Cup. And there is still time for other nations to add more chapters to this tale that has been begun. Why not name a different captain every game and just take the yellow card? A minimal sacrifice in the tournament tally. Or color the color brightly? The finger nails? Multicolored laces on the shoes?
Why not just give Manuel Neuer the FIFA armband, which, by the way, has a different (political?) motto of tolerance on every matchday, which contradicts the aggressive prohibition behavior, and slip "One Love" over the arms of all the other players? It would be the strongest sign of resistance in this losing power game with FIFA. Even if the referee, and he should according to the rules, would ask the players to drop the ball - without sanctions for the time being. The sudden appearance of the bandage under the training jackets would be in the world view - and this world title in the end maybe even more valuable than you might think after two days of play. If this tournament is even played to the end. Everything is, unfortunately yes, conceivable. A demolition because the Qataris lose the fun. A ban because Infantino realizes that this tournament has become too political, that his vision of the best World Cup has been shredded early on.
