Qatar World Cup: How did we get here?
The Athletic FC Podcast
The Athletic
4.0 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 15 November 2022
⏱️ 37 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Host Mark Chapman is joined by The Athletic's Editor-in-Chief Alex Kay-Jelski, Deputy Editor Laura Williamson and Investigations writer Matt Slater, to pause and reflect, just days before the World Cup kicks off in Qatar...
How Qatar retained the World Cup following the controversy surrounding their bid to host. The moral dilemmas of covering and even sending reporters to the tournament, how much Doha has changed in the intervening years and what visiting fans from all over the world can expect.
Plus, how Gareth Southgate and the FA have navigated human rights issues in the lead up to the biggest festival of football in the world, Gianni Infantino's lamentable letter, Jurgen Klopp's aspersions on the media and if sportswashing is really at the heart of Qatar's World Cup project.
Produced by Adonis Pratsides
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | So the World Cup kicks off this Sunday in Qatar and frankly a lot of people are still confused, |
| 0:11.8 | confused about how we've got here with the Winter World Cup and confused as well on how to feel about it. |
| 0:18.4 | So today, the Athletics Deputy Editor, Laura Williamson, |
| 0:23.2 | the editor-in-chief, Alex K Jelski, |
| 0:25.6 | and investigations writer Matt Slater |
| 0:27.6 | are alongside me to discuss it all. |
| 0:29.8 | I'm Mark Chapman. |
| 0:30.7 | This is The Athletic Football Podcast. |
| 0:42.6 | It could have made it uncomfortable for Blatter at that election, and he pulled out. |
| 0:45.7 | Let's go FIFA. Let's go FIFA. Thank you. |
| 0:49.7 | Mr Blatter, you can carry on as FIFA president. Call the dogs off on Qatar. |
| 0:53.4 | You were the first premiership footballer to do shoots with gay magazines like attitude, |
| 0:54.8 | to speak openly about your gay fans. But now it's 2022, and you've signed a reported 10 million pound deal with Qatar |
| 1:00.7 | to be their ambassador during the FIFA World Cup. It's like, well, we have to respect |
| 1:04.8 | Qataris culture. And again, from personal point of view, I'm like, I'm not a culture. That's just |
| 1:10.5 | bullshit. |
| 1:11.2 | Came out with a quote about, there be safe houses for LGBT and female fans. |
| 1:16.8 | It's mad. |
| 1:17.6 | It's absolutely mad. |
| 1:25.0 | Let me ask a very simple question to start with. |
| 1:28.3 | When someone says to you, Alex, are you looking forward to the World Cup? |
| 1:33.2 | How do you answer? |
... |
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