Has anything really changed for the better in Qatar? About a tournament that causes a maximum of controversy in advance.
The trip was not a lucky star. In the middle of the season, at the beginning of April 2004, FC Bayern jetted to Doha for a test match against the “Stars of Qatar”. The record champions defeated the cream of the crop of the Qatari league, for which Stefan Effenberg and Mario Basler appeared. But the Tingeltour cost Körner to catch up in the championship, which Werder Bremen won in the end. One had to tremble for Michael Ballack, the key player had torn his calf in the desert. On the one hand. On the other hand: The job kick brought a lot of money. The media wrote about 600,000 euros at the time.
Even today, about a year before the 2022 World Cup, there is conflict over partnerships with the emirate, which bring a lot of money and a lot of criticism. Not just in Munich, all over the world. Does the tournament help to open up a seemingly archaic society? Or does it offer a gigantic, petrodollar-financed stage for self-expression? Thomas Hitzlsperger can understand the approach of the arguments of the pro-Qatar group. “You try to use the old diplomatic idea of change through rapprochement. But my hope for improvement is limited,” says the CEO of VfB Stuttgart. “It will not be difficult for FIFA to show images for four weeks that give the impression of progress without anything fundamentally changing in the years to come.
What has long been taboo in men’s football in this country is prohibited in the host country of the World Cup: homosexuals face imprisonment, in extreme cases even the death penalty would be possible according to Sharia law. Who can blame Josh Cavallo when he says: “One of the greatest achievements as a professional footballer is playing for your country. Knowing that the World Cup is in a country that doesn’t support homosexuals and that puts our lives in danger is what makes me.” Fear.” The 22-year-old Adelaide United pro, who recently dared to come out, could theoretically take part in the World Cup, provided that Australia qualifies and nominates him. Cavallo would hardly travel to Qatar. Hitzlsperger reserves the right to at least: “I don’t want to rule it out,
“Women’s rights are also being trampled on in Qatar
“Maybe many football fans don’t know gays personally and have hardly anything to do with the subject. But you all have mothers, you have sisters and daughters. And they are no better off in Qatar than my people. Women’s rights are also trampled on in Qatar . And that you close your eyes here and accept all of this just to have an undisturbed football festival, that scares me, makes me angry, makes me despair, “says Alfonso Pantisano, board member of the German Lesbian and Gay Association, an emotional one Appeal to the football public.
In fact, Qatar was ranked 135th out of 153 countries worldwide in the World Economic Forum’s Gender Equality Index in 2020. It fits exactly into this picture that Monika Staab says: “Qatar no longer has a real women’s national team. When there are games, the appearance is preserved for the public. I cannot say to what extent there will be more support with a view to the World Cup.” The 62-year-old is a pioneer of women’s football. Only in the Federal Republic, from the mid-2000s especially in the Middle East. She trained in Bahrain and, since September, the no less controversial Saudi Arabia. In 2013 and 2014 it was the Qatari women who are no longer even in the FIFA world rankings, although the world association made women’s football a condition for World Cup applicants.
Staab: “In 2014 I was hoping that something could come about”
“We achieved a lot back then, from the U14s to the U16s, we played games, even completed the West Arab Cup. In 2010 Qatar lost 0:19 to Bahrain, we only lost 0: 3”, Staab looks back and is annoyed at the same time: “I had hoped that something could come about in 2014. Now I see the frustration because the work has not been continued. That is a fact. I still have very good contact with the players, they are very good disappointed. There is a training session every now and then, but you can’t speak of an active team.
