There may not be as much fanfare in the lead-up to the 2022 World Cup back home in Nigeria, especially as the Super Eagles failed to scale the Ghanaian hurdle in the qualifying series. The World Cup frequently gave Nigerian football supporters an avenue to momentarily put their sorrows, agony and frustrations aside and celebrate football because their appetites for joy, excitement, and exhilaration have been stifled by poor governance in the country. But even that avenue is now a victim of the poor management that has plagued the nation.
The Super Eagles’ starting lineup was unable to secure the ticket to Qatar due to years of our nation’s leadership being provided by a cast of mediocre “leaders” rather than our first-11.
Unlike what obtained in the past in the weeks leading to the World Cup, this year, sports-related brands are less active as a result of the absence of the Super Eagles in Qatar. In addition to the muted ambience, Nigeria will lose some bragging rights on the continent in football-related debates, which tend to trend on social media in the heat of the global football fiesta.
In its place, football fans in Nigeria will shift attention to their favourite club football players and possibly give their support to other African countries representing the continent in Qatar. A side effect of not qualifying is that the Super Eagles will drop further when the next set of ranking is announced. Nigeria has already slipped two spots, from the rank of 30 in March—after failing to qualify for the World Cup—to a rank of 32 in October. And the World Cup has not yet begun.
Beyond Nigeria’s World Cup absence, there are other factors that have particularly made this year’s edition different for many fans, many national teams and many players. When the ceremony takes off on November 20, it will be taking place right in the middle of football seasons across the globe.
Indeed, some players have had to make appearances for their clubs in as little as six days before the kickoff of the tournament itself, which is not a usual schedule for the World Cup. Yet, this is the situation for Qatar and part of the concessions FIFA had to make to allow for Qatar to host so that players, teams and fans can participate under the manageably sweltering conditions of the Gulf state while avoiding the unbearable scorching Qatar summer. Indeed, Gianni Infantino and his team of managers have had to bend over backwards in different ways to look past the negatives and focus solely on the football and organise a tournament worthy of its name.
Still, even if it cannot be overlooked that Qatar 2022 continues to be mired in controversy, scandal, scrutiny, and tragedy, the fact remains that the biggest reward in international men’s football is on the line and all the hullabaloo aside, Qatar is ready to host a World Cup for which it has spared no expense.
At the last count, it was reported that the oil-rich country had invested nothing less than $220 billion getting ready to host the world, which severely dwarfs the $11.6bn Russia spent in the preceding edition.
This is primed to be a special edition of the World Cup in many ways. It is the last 32-team edition of the competition because the 2026 World Cup, which will be held in the United States, Mexico,and Canada, will witness an increase in the number of participating countries to 48. The size of the field and the structure may be commonplace and familiar, but given the odd factors at play and the typical upsets of every World Cup, the upcoming weeks may be full of surprising twists, unlikely runs, and early departure surprises.
This is also the first-ever World Cup in the Middle East, in the global event’s 92-year history, will be the culmination of the wider region’s grand ambitions in the world of sports. Qatar and its wealthy neighbours have plowed billions of dollars into major European football clubs, the region will host four Formula 1 races in 2023 and the Saudi-backed LIV tour aims to dominate professional golf.
The first global spectacle open to spectators since COVID-19 restrictions shut out fans from international events like the Olympic Games, it is expected to deliver a record revenue for FIFA that will top the roughly $5.4 billion that the 2018 World Cup in Russia generated for the governing body. About 3.6 billion watched the last World Cup and billions are set to tune in to this edition.
What is going to be peculiar about Qatar is that, unlike other World Cup editions where venues were typically spread across multiple cities and required some considerable travel to get from one to the other, all games will be played within 31 miles of Doha’s main Corniche, and this can allow fans multiple games on a single day helped by the linked public transit system, Qatar’s new metro and a fleet of electric buses.
The fans have shown readiness to be part of the football fiesta. By the middle of October, almost all the available seats of about 3 million had been sold. Beside Qatar residents, who were some of the first to snap up tickets, according to FIFA, top buyers have come from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, enthused about the World Cup in their region. There has been a good number of ticket sales in the US, Mexico, Britain, France, Argentina, Brazil and Germany as these traditional homes of ardent football watchers have notched up the numbers of those ready to be there live in Doha and follow the events in person. Unfortunately, COVID-19 restrictions have worked to keep fans in China away from in-person presence in Qatar meaning those interested will have to follow via other means.
The shocking winners of the bid to host the 2022 World Cup have spent some of the $220 billion chest to get the eight hosting stadia ready to welcome competing teams and their fans for the tournament. Of the eight, seven were freshly built while one was refurbished. The rest of the money was spent in turning a space-challenged country like Qatar into a World Cup host country.
The money went into transportation, hospitality, telecommunications and security infrastructure, including $36 billion on that new metro system for greater Doha, a new airport, extensive road construction, and an insufficient number of over 100 hotels, among other expenses. It meant that non-traditional accommodation including cruise ships, desert camps and serviced apartments will be used to accommodate fans. Still, the country faces a race against time to have all the hotels and accommodation spaces ready in time for kickoff according to some reports on their state of their preparedness.
Even if travel between the stadia will not be too distant, accommodation for fans in far-flung neighborhoods had led to questions about how much fans will enjoy the experience. Answers will be available in good time but Qatar is doing all it can to make up for the gap. Arrangements have been concluded with other cities in the Middle East to allow for 100 daily return flights between those locations and Doha so that fans can decide to stay outside the tiny Gulf state and still not miss their matches at the World Cup. For instance, they can decide to stay in Dubai, with its more lenient dress code and party culture, and do a 55-minute trip to Qatar when required for the football.
The question many will ask is what will be the long-term benefits for the expense Qatar has incurred so far. There’s the standard claim that this mega event will be watched by billions of people worldwide, and it will put Qatar on the proverbial world map, eventually boosting tourism, foreign trade and investment. Perhaps it will also give Qatar a more significant role in geopolitics as a soft-power move but that is a projection that has pros and cons and the negativity that has followed the treatment of migrant workers, the country’s poor human rights records and overt homophobia may not pay dividends enough to consider hosting the World Cup a proper investment. But, time will be the best judge of that.
Meanwhile, ahead of Sunday’s kickoff, there will be notable absences in Qatar apart from Nigeria, which will make it an even more muted celebration of football. Italy, the European champions will be missing as their failed to qualify and there will be no Federico Chiesa, Marco Verratti and Giorgio Chiellini to light up the big stage in Qatar.
Sweden will be absent, too, after a quarter-final finish in Russia in 2018. It means that 40-year-old AC Milan forward, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, has now likely played his final World Cup match just as the absence of Egypt will mean no World Cup for Mohamed Salah.
Countries like Scotland and Ukraine will also miss out and Arsenal fans will not be able to celebrate Oleksandr Zinchenko on the world stage. Colombia is also not at Qatar and Luis Diaz, James Rodriguez and Davinson Sanchez miss out as do Chileans Alexis Sanchez and Arturo Vidal because Chile did not qualify for the event. Peru and New Zealand also failed to make the cut.
Then, injuries have been responsible for keeping some players, whose countries qualified, from joining their squads to Qatar. Previously, these players will have had several weeks to recover prior to the commencement of the World Cup tournament, but with Qatar 2022 smack in November, in the middle of the regular season, there is no time between the break from club football and the start of the World Cup. This was particularly the situation that Senegal faced with Sadio Mane’s injury situation and why he was ultimately dropped from the Qatar squad list.
The list of notable names on the injury watchlist who, like Mane, will miss Qatar include French players Presnel Kimpembe, Paul Pogba, N’Golo Kante, Mike Maignan and Christopher Nkunku. Others are Timo Werner (Germany), Florian Wirtz (Germany), Diogo Jota (Portugal), Georginio Wijnaldum (Netherlands), Alexis Saelemaekers (Belgium), Diego Carlos (Brazil), Arthur Melo (Brazil), Ben Chilwell (England), Reece James (England), Jesus ‘Tecatito’ Corona (Mexico), Marco Reus (Germany), Giovani Lo Celso (Argentina), Nicolas Gonzalez (Argentina), Joaquin Correa (Argentina) and Amine Harit (Morocco).
Qatar will have the attention of the world when hostilities kick off on Sunday and they have shown they have what it takes to host the best celebration of football they can host.
It will begin with an opening ceremony that will put a display of Qatar’s culture on the big stage before Ecuador take on the host nation at the Al-Bayt stadium. That Group A fixture will be the first chance for many to see Qatar in action. From then on, it will be football fireworks until one team triumphs to lift up the World Cup at the Lusail Stadium on December 18. One can only hazard a guess at which country that will be.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
