Is there hypocrisy of constant criticism of Qatar (World Cup)?

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I was speaking with my friends, and we all noticed how much outrage is given to Qatar compared to other countries. Yes, Qatar has some awful laws and things going in their country but so do a lot of countries. There was little outrage given to Russia World Cup 2018 and the Olympics in China but when it comes to Qatar a lot of people are virtue signalling. For example, singers like Dua Lipa saying they are not going to perform in Qatar because of human rights. But they do concerts in Dubai which have similar laws to Qatar. I think a lot of people need to realize that Qatar own or have influence to a lot of things in London (Shard, Harrods, Savoy hotel, stock exchange etc..)

I was listening to the radio and a caller made an interesting point "what country is 100 percent perfect?" Even in 2026 USA, Mexico and Canada World Cup there are many issues there. USA- Gun issues, Abortion not always being legalised etc... Mexico - lot of drug cartels there. But I bet you they will not get the same outrage as Qatar.

Ruining Christmas? What does that mean? For a start it's not Christmas and even if it were, surely the two events can happen concurrently? I care for neither Christmas nor football and manage to avoid them in equal measure!

I think a lot of people need to realize that Qatar own or have influence to a lot of things in London (Shard, Harrods, Savoy hotel, stock exchange etc..)
and that’s just the sovereign wealth, other private Qatari businessmen own or have stake in other businesses in the capital like the Ritz , Claridges..etc

yesterday they’ve decided to rethink all future and current investments in the U.K. after Sadiq Khan decided that ads for Qatar airways are banned on all London transport.
Europe which is so desperate for LNG was not in favour of signing long term deals so they lost to China who have jumped in and Signed a 27 year deal with Qatar gas,
people can read between the lines and come to their own conclusion they feel betrayed.

Qatar won’t suffer but London’s image has really suffered , on top of everything else going on right now , one of the UKs biggest investors have expressed they are rethinking their investments ? That’s really not the thing the U.K. wants right now.

Many people are really uncomfortable with the World Cup being there given corruption, bribery, the slave labour ( to all intents and purposes) used to build stadiums, the environmental impact of building stadiums
likes this and the fact that LGBTQ people are not allowed to exist in Qatar at all - and that’s before you get to any of the other human rights abuses.
So
its fine, as far as I’m concerned, if people have ongoing issues with the World Cup, the behaviour of FIFA bullying teams, and the issues that Quataris have with gay people given their hunting down if every bloody rainbow, right down to watch straps.

I can only assume you don't follow news or social media if you were unaware of the outrage regarding China and Russia.

You couldn't by any chance be referring to that fine upstanding paragon of virtue, Sep Blatter...

In the last century and before, football was a game played and watched by local people. Players were paid low wages.

in the 2000s money entered the equation, huge TV companies and on-line betting. Football clubs are now owned by foreign companies, players are massively overpaid.

the whole thing is a corrupt sport, totally about ££££

ruining Christmas

It’s November. The final will be on 18 December, which is still before Christmas.

Even if the sanctity of Christmas were the key consideration, it’s not going to affect any of the actual Christmas period.

Tbh, normal football has always featured in the actual Christmas period anyway. So I’m not sure why the World Cup is such a problem. There’s always football on Boxing Day, for example.

Qatar bought the bid to host the world cup in 2010, which means people have had 12 years to complain about the issues of rights.
Yet no one complained until the event actually happened, then all of a sudden people are up in arms about it all.
Hypocrisy at its finest.

I think lots of people have been complaining about the Qatar World Cup for the last 12 years. It’s not suddenly come out of nowhere

I do remember people complaining at the time 12 years ago about the Qatar World Cup although I seem to think the concerns i heard were the heat/the time of year.

I also remember people complaining about China getting the Olympics.

However I think (and maybe this is irrelevant) having more and multiple media streams highlights the issues more. When China would have been awarded the Olympics for example this was before everyone had Internet on their phones, before Facebook, twitter and mainstream social media for example....so not the same exposure to Joe bloggs opinion on the subject. Even 12 years ago when Qatar was awarded the WC there weren't the same amount of social media platforms there are now for people to express/argue their opinions with complete strangers!

Concerns were raised long before 2022. www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/25/revealed-qatars-world-cup-slaves Just one example.

I think the west is jealous of the money Qatar has, and how the region controls the price of oil while the west are paying for it. And also some casual racism towards the arabs

They were, but suddenly in the last couple of weeks everyone and their dog has jumped on the bandwagon.

readymade they are very smart with their money. if you can ,look up QatarGas CEO interview on Skynews , the man is very well spoken , he pointed out the issues surrounding the energy crisis, how it started where we are and what can be done ,basically , it can’t be solved very quickly , the west has no actual functioning plan B, The interviewer just sheepishly asked why can’t Qatar just open the tap 😵‍💫.

the west is showing a lot of prejudice towards them, how dare a former British protectorate act this way.

Ie, when the tournament started? How coincidental.

I'll try to link to the article but the Qataris along with some other partners are considering putting in a bid for Liverpool football club.

Posted too soon, it'll be interesting to see how far their bid goes considering what's gone on in the world Cup.

It's simple, it's new and trendy (in a negative way) ... before the World Cup, we didn't care or know much about Qatar.
We choose to ignore a lot or go along with it because of the oil. It will also fade into insignificance again afterwards.

Really? Are you able to quote a source on this. Given the age of the USA vs other countries such as England I don't believe this to be true.

Are you a football fan?
I ask because responses are different.
I'm a huge football fan, the WC is a great festival of football and i usually watch as many matches as i can.
I watched the event when it was in Russia. At the time it was awarded to Russia and Qatar i joined the voices of complaint and i have never let that up, even during the WC in Russia. I watched only the football, and none of the related events, because at least Russia has a history and tradition of playing the sport.

Qatar? not so much. They have zero tradition of playing football and i am not watching any of it. Their human rights abuses and the environmental impact are things i, my friends and plenty of people on and offline have been talking about since 2012 when the award was made. When it is over? yep, we'll still be talking about it.

What i am rather tired of are people who have never been involved in any discussions on it with me, or football in general, suddenly going "yeah but USA!" etc. So what? All the talk of "hypocricy" and "band wagons" is getting on my tits.

You do you. But stop pretending this isn't a hugely complex issue.

Quite. If you have to move the whole fucking tournament by two seasons just to make it viable then the corruption's a bit harder to ignore.

I don’t think the criticism is hypocritical. I think there was criticism of the World Cup in Russia. I find a lot very troubling about this World Cup. The deaths of migrant workers who built the stadium is extremely alarming. The lack of workers rights, death penalty for homosexuality, control of women, not to mention the terrible carbon footprint… and then there is the outright corruption by Fifa. I don’t think we should be taking part in this.

For the avoidance of doubt though: i think it is fine to have the WC at this time of year. I assume it would be the same if it were hosted in Australia. That is fine.

The fact that homosexuality was illegal when the WC was held here? in 1966? Women weren't allowed mortgages either. So? There were huge social changes between then and now. I am irked by the fact that gay football players feel unable to be out. That is something that i find strange given the push for rainbow flags, armbands, laces etc. I believe it is a matter of time. But that is up to individual players.

I'm a bit nonplussed about the whole LGB hing in Qatar. I mean, we know there are gay people around there always have been. Even in 1966 in the UK. There are in Qatar, they have to be careful. I hope things change for them. I don't think flags and armbands will help them much.

I'll be happy if there is a legacy effect of these games in Qatar and football gets to be much more poupular and those stadiums get a lot of use. The deaths of the construction workers will have more meaning then (IYSWIM? they shouldn't have happened)

I'm angry that rich owners, FIFA, UEFA the FA and theDFB are "stealing" football from the fans, even while i do enjoy going to matches (I have a season ticket to a bundesliga club). Our protest? we're going to the non-league matches and it's great. Will continue to do that after the WC has finished.

They have zero tradition of playing football
they rank 50 , higher than South Africa
they won the Asian cup in 2019.
we really need to stop this white prejudice towards others , like only white people play football ,
I’ve seen videos of an Australian reporter trying to spot fake fans just because they are Indians , like no Indians ever watch football 🙄

Agreed.