From the moment it was announced that Qatar would be the host of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the Western media had been filled with derogatory comments about the country. Some said it was too small a country to host such a big event; some said the country wasn’t even a footballing country, so why would they host? Some said the country has a hot climate and the players wouldn’t be able to play comfortably while some others said the country was too “conservative” to accommodate the different kinds of people who would attend the tournament.
While there’s the questionable death of several Asians who died while building the beautiful stadia used for the events, the country has come, seen and conquered over the bigotry directed towards it.
Due to the hot climate of Qatar, the tournament was scheduled to hold in December when the heat would be bearable and players could comfortably play. In addition, all eight stadiums that hosted the 64 matches had air cooling systems built into them to further aid against the heat, the first of their kind.
Before the tournament started at all, when Qatar released the rules guiding visitors’ behaviours and conducts during the 28 days it would host, the western media once again began their campaign of calumny.
Alcohol would not be sold at the stadia: This was one of the rules that sparked debate and hate against Qatar because apparently, football and beer go hand in hand for some people. But, here is a country whose culture is against alcoholism and whose dominant religion has ruled against intoxicants in any form.
No open display of LGBTQ would be accepted: This sparked another human rights debate and criticism which led to some countries deciding their captains would wear the “One Love” armband during their matches. Thankfully, the regulatory body, FIFA was able to control that and in the words of the FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, ‘I think for what we Europeans have been doing for 3000 years around the world, we should be apologising for the next 3000 years before starting to give moral lessons to people.’ And he also said of the alcohol ban, ‘if you can’t drink beer for three hours, I think you can survive’. There are many countries that have banned alcohol in stadiums, an example is France. But since it’s a Muslim country, that’s a problem (hello, double standards).
Fast forward to the opening ceremony (which was very beautiful), the BBC refused to broadcast it to its citizens. The opening ceremony gave us an insight into what to expect at the World Cup. There were no scantily clad women (as has been the norm) and we heard the Qur’an beautifully recited as Ghanim Al-muftah shared the stage with Morgan Freeman. Before the opening match, we saw another display of bigotry when a Dutch newspaper published a cartoon depicting the Qatari players as terrorists.
Despite all these, the tournament progressed and what was experienced has been said to be the best so far.
For once, England fans were not arrested at stadiums for unruly behaviour (as a result of drunkenness).
For once, there were designated fan zones for refugees
For once, the atmosphere in the stadiums were peaceful and calm. No unruliness, no cat-calling or indecent actions. The tournament was family friendly and we’ve seen social media posts of people thanking Amir Tamim for creating a family-friendly atmosphere for football.
Qatar didn’t just provide a beautiful tournament, the country would continue to live in our hearts for not giving up on its principles for just 28 days of football.
Of Palestine, the surprises, the underdogs, the underrated and the victories: One very notable thing about this World Cup was the constant awareness of the Palestinian situation. While Qatar has always been a strong s upporter of the Palestinian struggle, this tournament brought out more supporters than the world could have ever imagined. We had people boycotting interviews from Israeli TV stations, fans continuously including, “Free Palestine” in their interviews, teams flying the Palestinian flags to celebrate their victories and the stands filled with Palestinian flag. And as Khaled Beydoun wrote in an Instagram post the day Argentina faced Croatia in the semi-finals, “we may only appreciate the transformative magnitude this World Cup has had on Muslim and Arab identity, African and minority identity, and Palestinian pride and solidarity long after this tournament and time is past us.”
The World Cup also showed us to never underestimate anything (football team or otherwise), and to always expect the unexpected at every turn. The first surprise of the tournament came when the Saudi team won against eventual champions, Argentina. It was such a shocking victory that the Saudi fans, out of joy, could be seen on TV asking, “where is Messi? Where is Messi? He’s in my pocket.”
Another surprise, maybe not really a surprise, was Croatia. They made it to the finals at the 2018 World Cup and lost to France. Despite this, the team was still underrated. They ended up claiming the third place after they defeated Morocco 2-1.
The Japanese and Korean teams were not left out of the triumphs. They shined and shined brightly . What made the Japanese standout the most was their cleanliness. Those guys would leave the locker room cleaner than they met it. And their fans? They always cleaned the stadium at the end of each game. They cheered loudly and proudly for their team without fail. And when the team lost and went back home, they were treated to a heroes welcome. It was well deserved.
But the greatest surprise of all came from the Atlas Lions of Morocco. There were underdogs that refused to be relegated to the background. They made it to the semifinals without conceding any goal in regular duration. France and later, Croatia, ended up breaking that record in the semifinal and third place playoff respectively. They steadily knocked aside football giants like Canada, Belgium and to the surprise of the entire world, Spain and Portugal.
The night they won against Spain at the Education Stadium in Qatar, Khaled Beydoun wrote in a CNN opinion titled, ‘The Night that Changed Football for Muslims Everywhere’ that: “The Moroccan team did not defeat Islamophobia, but the World Cup stage, curated by Qatar, enabled a new stanza of resilience and sublime chapters of resistance where Muslim identity stood tall and proud and victorious in the centre of the world stage…. With Morocco’s Atlas Lions, Muslims were given a new brand of historians, who rose above the betting and Islamophobic odds to win the hearts of Muslims around the world. This time, the real winners of the World Cup may not go home with a gold trophy.”
Of Celebrations, being Muslim and attaining Qatar’s Glory
We’ve witnessed, at several points in football history, the different celebration methods by different footballers, but this time, we were treated to a different version of celebration courtesy of the Moroccans. Achraf Hakimi started the trend the day they defeated Belgium by rushing into the stands to hug his mum and give her a kiss on the forehead.
Subsequently, we continued to see this trend in the Moroccan team as they rushed to the stands to kiss their mothers after each victory. There’s also the touching video of Sofiane Boufal dancing with his mum on the pitch after the historic win against Spain. The most special part of that was when his mum’s hijab was starting to come off and he adjusted it for her. We also saw the way Yassine Bounou had a fun time with his toddler after their win against Portugal.
Of this, a German commentator said: ‘We no longer see the intimate family bonds in our Western societies. The concept of family is fading and we can only see the players kissing their models and girlfriends while their parents are left in nursing homes.
The moral support of the family played a big role in Morocco’s wins, while we came to support homosexuality and place our hands on our mouths. We taught them how to play football, so they excelled and exceeded us, and we should learn ethics and family values from them, hoping one day we see our players kissing the forehead of their mothers and fathers too.’
We saw the bigotry against these players when a Danish TV station compared them hugging their mothers to a family of monkeys.
Another historic celebration was when these same teammates prostrated to Allah after their successes, dedicated their successes to Allah. In the same article on CNN, Khaled said: “the Moroccan team dropped to their knees in prayer, again, in the centre of a new football stage where Islam was neither fringe nor marginal, deviant nor dangerous. It was rather, as native as the call to prayer that filled the night sky and the faith that fueled the dreams of a young Somali footballer – and millions of Muslim children who witnessed the history Morocco made in Qatar.”
Their thankfulness didn’t end with their victories alone, rather, they still prostrated even after they lost to France. After they lost to Croatia, Bounou, in an Instagram post, made the world know that Morocco is definitely not giving up and their best is yet to come. He posted: “Because the generations to come will be better. Because what comes next will be so much better.”
To cap it all, if you’ve seen the World Cup song, Tahayya sung by Maher Zain and Humood Al-Khuder, and you follow the lyrics properly, you’ll realise that they both predicted and confirmed the success of this tournament. In his part of the song, Maher Zain sang: “we’ve come to live out dream. We’re all united here as one….Today we celebrate, history is made.” And truly, history was made in Qatar. Records were broken and rewritten.
In the last part of the song, they sang: “And victory, victory, for each one of us; for everyone who strove, to attain what they wished for.” Indeed, those who strove attained victory. And finally, they said: “And today, we deliver on our promise and we reach our glory, for the whole world.”
Truly, Qatar has attained its glory and shown the whole world what can be achieved when there’s passion and faith.
Lessons for West Africa, the Arab and Muslim World: In Morocco’s victory, perhaps the football countries of West Africa can learn one or two lessons. For a long time, the football champions of this continent have come from West Africa but now that a new set of history has been made, perhaps our football regulatory bodies can learn something. The Moroccan players were trained outside Morocco, however, they decided to go back home to play for their country of origin rather than their adopted countries.
Achraf Hakimi trained in Spain where his father was a street vendor and his mother was a housekeeper. Hakim Ziyech lost his father to cancer at a young age and his mom strove to take care of both him and his siblings. He trained in the Netherlands. Yassine Bounou came in from Canada. They never forgot their roots. We have a fine crop of players in Western Africa, but because of the way the regulatory bodies handle the football teams, our players would rather play for foreign teams where they would be racially discriminated against and would still get good pay. Not to forget, they’d also be better taken care of. Since he started playing for his national team, Ziyech has been said to spent all his bonuses on the underprivileged people of Morocco and now, the entire team has agreed to spend their World Cup earnings the same way.
In the same vein, we saw how people of different origins stood up for Palestine. It’s saddening, however, that the leadership of these countries don’t deem it fit to do the same thing their people are doing. If the Arab and Muslim Worlds could unite for Palestine as we all united for Morocco, imagine the significant difference it would make to the Palestinian struggle. Instead, our Arab and Muslim leaders (with the exception of a few of them) are busy sucking up to the West.
Of the bisht and the future of FIFA World Cup: At the end of the finals, when Lionel Messi was draped in the traditional Arab bisht garment, there was outrage from the Western media about how Qatar was a soulless state and how they were hijacking Messi as their own. It’s strange because some cultures use wreaths to celebrate heroes and there’s no outrage. But because it’s an Arab and a Muslim country, it’s not surprising. If we’re to trace the origin of this garment, those media exclaiming about the hijacking would shrink back in shame. This garment was originally worn by people who graduated from the first universities in the world (which were Arab universities). Eventually, the tradition moved to the West and is what we have as graduation gowns these days (a shorter version).
At the end of these all, one thing is for sure. Before the World Cup can get to be hosted by another Arab/Muslim country, that country would have to work hard for it, especially now that FIFA has expanded the voting to include all member countries. But if it ever gets back to the Muslim world, you can be sure to experience history being rewritten once again.
The 2026 World Cup would be hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico together. One thing is for sure, what would top their agenda is the “rainbow evangelism” and “freedom to drink” while watching the games. But we know one thing, no country can ever beat Qatar’s record. If there is, we’re waiting to see.
– Safiyyah Abdurrazaq is a journalist. She writes for Muslim News Nigeria
