For much of its nearly 100-year history, the World Cup has been a clash of sport and politics — though perhaps never so much as at this year’s tournament in Qatar.
Despite organizers’ best efforts to get players and fans to focus on the soccer, the current men’s World Cup has faced enduring accusations. They’ve been accused of “sportswashing” over the host’s human rights record, with spectators detained and teams threatened over rainbow flags. It has left long-time observers wondering if FIFA has lost control of its own event.
Here’s a look at the times politics and sports collided at the 2022 men’s World Cup:
A controversial host
With its tiny population, extreme heat and lack of footballing history, the choice of Qatar as this year’s World Cup host had long raised eyebrows.
Days before the tournament opened on Nov. 20, former FIFA president Sepp Blatter said it was “a mistake” to choose Qatar, in part because of its small size — adding that the event should have instead gone to the U.S.
On the eve of the opening ceremony, FIFA president Gianni Infantino delivered a 57-minute tirade, demanding critics stop talking about politics and human rights, and instead enjoy the soccer. Infantino has since kept a low public profile.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino speaks at a press conference in Doha on Nov. 19. In his 57-minute speech, Infantino urged critics to stop talking about politics and human rights, and instead enjoy the soccer. (Matthew Childs/Reuters)
The plight of migrant workers
Exploitation of migrant workers, including those who built Qatar’s stadiums and infrastructure, has been a dark cloud over its World Cup, with some former labourers detailing slave-like conditions with low pay and little time off.
Al Thawadi previously said between 400 and 500 migrant workers died during World Cup construction projects.
A crowd of migrant workers watch France play Morocco at a fan zone inside a Doha cricket stadium on Wednesday. World Cup organizers say between 400 and 500 migrant workers died while working on construction projects for the tournament. (Ibraheem Al Omari/Reuters)
Removing rainbows
World Cup organizers took extraordinary steps to try to keep rainbow flags and clothing out of stadiums, amid criticism over Qatar’s anti-LGBTQ laws. Fans had items confiscated, and some were even removed from stadiums or detained for wearing rainbow clothing.
The captains of seven European teams abandoned a plan to wear rainbow armbands during matches after FIFA threatened them with yellow cards. In a joint statement, the teams said they couldn’t risk their success at the tournament by taking a stand (two yellow cards would result in a player being sent off and banned from the team’s next game).
Before their opening match, Germany’s players posed for a team photo with their mouths covered, in reference to being gagged by FIFA over the armbands.
Germany’s players cover their mouths while posing for a team photo before their opening World Cup match against Japan in Doha on Nov. 23. (Annegret Hilse/Reuters)
Nonetheless, a rainbow did make it onto the pitch, when a protester carrying a peace flag interrupted a match between Portugal and Uruguay.
The flag is an unofficial symbol of world peace, which was created in Italy in 1961 and carries the word “PACE,” which is Italian for peace.
A pitch invader runs across the field with a peace flag during Portugal’s group stage match against Uruguay in Lusail on Nov. 28. (Abbie Parr/The Associated Press)
Protesting Iran’s regime
Iran’s flag also became a contentious motif during the country’s games. Security guards confiscated Persian pre-revolutionary flags and signs bearing messages of support for Iran’s protest movement. There were also confrontations between protesters and supporters of the Iranian regime.
A security official, right, speaks with fans who were holding up a flag advocating for women’s rights in Iran, and a shirt with the name of Mahsa Amini on it, while Iran played Wales in Doha on Nov. 25. Amini’s death in custody in September sparked massive protests across Iran. (Matthias Hangst/Getty Images)
But some ticket-holders did manage to carry flags, T-shirts and signs into stadiums, and they held up messages referring to women’s rights and Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old woman whose death in Iranian custody in September sparked the country’s massive protests.
Iran’s soccer team stood silently during their national anthem, ahead of their opening match, in a sign of support for the protests back home. However, they sang the anthem at their next match.
Iran players did not sing their national anthem before their opening World Cup match against England in Doha on Nov. 21. (Hannah Mckay/Reuters)
Iran’s group stage face-off with the U.S. was shaping up as a geopolitical event, even before U.S. Soccer posted an altered version of Iran’s flag — without its Islamic Republic emblem — on social media. The U.S. Soccer Federation later said the post was a show of support for Iran’s protest movement.
The flag of the Palestinian territories has been a regular sight in the stands and on the pitch at this year’s World Cup — the first to take place in the Middle East — even though their team isn’t playing.
On Nov. 30, a man waving a Palestinian flag ran onto the pitch during Tunisia’s game against France.
And when Morocco reached the quarterfinals, it wasn’t their own flag they posed with. Instead, they celebrated with a Palestinian flag.
Morocco defender Jawad El Yamiq waves the Palestinian flag after his team beat Canada in Doha on Dec. 1. (Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP/Getty Images)
Borjan was born in an ethnic Serb region of Croatia that was part of the conflict that split the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. During the match, Borjan faced abusive chants and banners making light of his family’s escape from their hometown when it was taken by Croatian forces in 1995.
In a statement on its website, the Croatian Football Federation said FIFA’s disciplinary committee had fined it 50,000 Swiss francs ($72,600 Cdn) for its fans’ inappropriate behaviour.
Canada’s goalkeeper Milan Borjan, left, and defender Kamal Miller react after losing a group stage match against Croatia during the 2022 World Cup in Al Rayyan on Nov. 27. Borjan was subjected to taunts by Croatian fans during the game, for which FIFA later fined Croatia’s soccer association. (Danielle Parhizkaran/USA TODAY Sports)
Beery bad news
Two days before the World Cup opened, Qatar — which has very strict alcohol control — announced it would not allow beer to be sold in stadiums. Instead, it could only be sold in fan zones and some other approved sites.
The news came as a shock to FIFA, ticket-holders and Budweiser alike. The beer giant has been a World Cup sponsor since 1985. It’s unclear whether it will sue World Cup organizers for breaching their multimillion-dollar contract.
The company quickly came up with another way to offload all the beer it took to Qatar: give it to the winning team.
New Day, New Tweet. Winning Country gets the Buds. Who will get them? <a href=”https://t.co/Vv2YFxIZa1″>pic.twitter.com/Vv2YFxIZa1</a>
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says it’s “disgraceful and demeaning” that a Halifax-area school would request that service members not wear military uniforms to its Remembrance Day ceremony.
Houston’s comments were part of a chorus of criticism levelled at the school — Sackville Heights Elementary — whose administration decided to back away from the plan after the outcry.
A November newsletter from the school in Middle Sackville, N.S., invited Armed Forces members to attend its ceremony but asked that all attendees arrive in civilian attire to “maintain a welcoming environment for all.”
Houston, who is currently running for re-election, accused the school’s leaders of “disgracing themselves while demeaning the people who protect our country” in a post on the social media platform X Thursday night.
“If the people behind this decision had a shred of the courage that our veterans have, this cowardly and insulting idea would have been rejected immediately,” Houston’s post read. There were also several calls for resignations within the school’s administration attached to Houston’s post.
In an email to families Thursday night, the school’s principal, Rachael Webster, apologized and welcomed military family members to attend “in the attire that makes them most comfortable.”
“I recognize this request has caused harm and I am deeply sorry,” Webster’s email read, adding later that the school has the “utmost respect for what the uniform represents.”
Webster said the initial request was out of concern for some students who come from countries experiencing conflict and who she said expressed discomfort with images of war, including military uniforms.
Her email said any students who have concerns about seeing Armed Forces members in uniform can be accommodated in a way that makes them feel safe, but she provided no further details in the message.
Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
At a news conference Friday, Houston said he’s glad the initial request was reversed but said he is still concerned.
“I can’t actually fathom how a decision like that was made,” Houston told reporters Friday, adding that he grew up moving between military bases around the country while his father was in the Armed Forces.
“My story of growing up in a military family is not unique in our province. The tradition of service is something so many of us share,” he said.
“Saying ‘lest we forget’ is a solemn promise to the fallen. It’s our commitment to those that continue to serve and our commitment that we will pass on our respects to the next generation.”
Liberal Leader Zach Churchill also said he’s happy with the school’s decision to allow uniformed Armed Forces members to attend the ceremony, but he said he didn’t think it was fair to question the intentions of those behind the original decision.
“We need to have them (uniforms) on display at Remembrance Day,” he said. “Not only are we celebrating (veterans) … we’re also commemorating our dead who gave the greatest sacrifice for our country and for the freedoms we have.”
NDP Leader Claudia Chender said that while Remembrance Day is an important occasion to honour veterans and current service members’ sacrifices, she said she hopes Houston wasn’t taking advantage of the decision to “play politics with this solemn occasion for his own political gain.”
“I hope Tim Houston reached out to the principal of the school before making a public statement,” she said in a statement.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
REGINA – Saskatchewan Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck says she wants to prove to residents her party is the government in waiting as she heads into the incoming legislative session.
Beck held her first caucus meeting with 27 members, nearly double than what she had before the Oct. 28 election but short of the 31 required to form a majority in the 61-seat legislature.
She says her priorities will be health care and cost-of-living issues.
Beck says people need affordability help right now and will press Premier Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government to cut the gas tax and the provincial sales tax on children’s clothing and some grocery items.
Beck’s NDP is Saskatchewan’s largest Opposition in nearly two decades after sweeping Regina and winning all but one seat in Saskatoon.
The Saskatchewan Party won 34 seats, retaining its hold on all of the rural ridings and smaller cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia‘s growing population was the subject of debate on Day 12 of the provincial election campaign, with Liberal Leader Zach Churchill arguing immigration levels must be reduced until the province can provide enough housing and health-care services.
Churchill said Thursday a plan by the incumbent Progressive Conservatives to double the province’s population to two million people by the year 2060 is unrealistic and unsustainable.
“That’s a big leap and it’s making life harder for people who live here, (including ) young people looking for a place to live and seniors looking to downsize,” he told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
Anticipating that his call for less immigration might provoke protests from the immigrant community, Churchill was careful to note that he is among the third generation of a family that moved to Nova Scotia from Lebanon.
“I know the value of immigration, the importance of it to our province. We have been built on the backs of an immigrant population. But we just need to do it in a responsible way.”
The Liberal leader said Tim Houston’s Tories, who are seeking a second term in office, have made a mistake by exceeding immigration targets set by the province’s Department of Labour and Immigration. Churchill said a Liberal government would abide by the department’s targets.
In the most recent fiscal year, the government welcomed almost 12,000 immigrants through its nominee program, exceeding the department’s limit by more than 4,000, he said. The numbers aren’t huge, but the increase won’t help ease the province’s shortages in housing and doctors, and the increased strain on its infrastructure, including roads, schools and cellphone networks, Churchill said.
“(The Immigration Department) has done the hard work on this,” he said. “They know where the labour gaps are, and they know what growth is sustainable.”
In response, Houston said his commitment to double the population was a “stretch goal.” And he said the province had long struggled with a declining population before that trend was recently reversed.
“The only immigration that can come into this province at this time is if they are a skilled trade worker or a health-care worker,” Houston said. “The population has grown by two per cent a year, actually quite similar growth to what we experienced under the Liberal government before us.”
Still, Houston said he’s heard Nova Scotians’ concerns about population growth, and he then pivoted to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for trying to send 6,000 asylum seekers to Nova Scotia, an assertion the federal government has denied.
Churchill said Houston’s claim about asylum seekers was shameful.
“It’s smoke and mirrors,” the Liberal leader said. “He is overshooting his own department’s numbers for sustainable population growth and yet he is trying to blame this on asylum seekers … who aren’t even here.”
In September, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said there is no plan to send any asylum seekers to the province without compensation or the consent of the premier. He said the 6,000 number was an “aspirational” figure based on models that reflect each province’s population.
In Halifax, NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it’s clear Nova Scotia needs more doctors, nurses and skilled trades people.
“Immigration has been and always will be a part of the Nova Scotia story, but we need to build as we grow,” Chender said. “This is why we have been pushing the Houston government to build more affordable housing.”
Chender was in a Halifax cafe on Thursday when she promised her party would remove the province’s portion of the harmonized sales tax from all grocery, cellphone and internet bills if elected to govern on Nov. 26. The tax would also be removed from the sale and installation of heat pumps.
“Our focus is on helping people to afford their lives,” Chender told reporters. “We know there are certain things that you can’t live without: food, internet and a phone …. So we know this will have the single biggest impact.”
The party estimates the measure would save the average Nova Scotia family about $1,300 a year.
“That’s a lot more than a one or two per cent HST cut,” Chender said, referring to the Progressive Conservative pledge to reduce the tax by one percentage point and the Liberal promise to trim it by two percentage points.
Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Houston announced that a Progressive Conservative government would make parking free at all Nova Scotia hospitals and health-care centres. The promise was also made by the Liberals in their election platform released Monday.
“Free parking may not seem like a big deal to some, but … the parking, especially for people working at the facilities, can add up to hundreds of dollars,” the premier told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
