Argentina’s football players celebrate with the World Cup trophy after winning the final match with France at the Lusail Stadium in Lusail, Qatar.
(AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
During the 2022 FIFA World Cup, many highlighted the controversial and politicized climate of the tournament, but sport and politics are rarely, if ever, separable.
Youssef En-Nesyri (c) celebrates after scoring Morocco’s first goal against Portugal during quarterfinal match on December 10 2022.
AP Photo/Martin Meissner
Football is one of the hardest sports to predict – but there are some fascinating geographical clues when we look at the latitudes of past performers and their ultimate success.
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To qualify for the World Cup, Nigeria’s football structures need to link up with schools and build diverse support.
Youssef En-Nesyri of Morocco celebrates his winning goal.
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Defences win championships - and Morocco has all that it takes to lift the trophy.
Rungroj Yongrit, Andrej Cukic and Abir Sultan/EPA/AAP
Starry-eyed claims such as “the World Cup brings down cultural barriers” simply do not stand up to scrutiny.
South African supporters at the 2010 men’s football World Cup.
Phil Cole/Getty Images
Studies show South Africa did a lot right when it hosted the football World Cup. Qatar can do the same if it learns from South Africa.
Men’s soccer has had a problem with allyship long before Qatar was awarded the hosting rights for this year’s World Cup.
(AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan)
To make men’s soccer a more inclusive space, organizers and players must put allyship above profits and winning.
The Fifa 2022 world cup in Qatar has been controversial from day one.
Hasan Zaidi | Alamy
Qatari law underpins a patriarchal and misogynistic system. The discrimination women, including female football fans, face contravenes international human rights.
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Fifa has enacted little change to its culture to ensure corruption doesn’t occur again.
Goalkeeper Ali Beiranvand of Iran is carried on a stretcher during the FIFA World Cup 2022 group B soccer match between England and Iran.
EPA
World Cup 2022: the risk of playing on with concussion and why the rules in football need to change.
Fans watch the World Cup opening match between Qatar and Ecuador on Nov. 20, 2022, in Doha.
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Migrant workers’ rights are indeed an ongoing issue in Qatar – but the country has passed reforms to improve workers’ rights, and it isn’t the only issue to define Qatar.
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The decision to only pay lip service to discrimination could have long term impacts.
Hassan Ammar/AP/AAP
And how have FIFA and Qatar manoeuvred to deflect criticism?
Senegal’s goalkeeper Tony Sylva celebrates his side’s famous win against France at the 2002 Fifa World Cup.
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A win is possible - but only in 2026 or 2030 and only if African teams get to play more high level internationals more regularly.
Companies like Puma continue to sponsor the Israeli Football Association despite some of its teams operating on illegally occupied Palestinian territory.
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Puma’s support for Israeli football teams in the occupied Palestinian territories goes against FIFA’s rules.
Bayern Munich fans with a message for the victims in Indonesia.
EuroFoot
The Kanjuruhan Stadium tragedy in Malang, Indonesia, 1 October 2022 killed hundreds of people and injured hundred others. What should the police and football association do to prevent another tragedy?
EA Sports
EA Sports and FIFA will part ways after almost 30 years of collaboration, and will each be going at games alone.
Canada’s men’s soccer team officially qualified for the World Cup after defeating Jamaica in Toronto on March 27, 2022.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
It’s fair to say the Canadian men’s national soccer team’s victory on Sunday meant something, eh?
Graffiti by the artist J.Warx in Valencia, Spain.
EPA-EFE/JUAN CARLOS CARDENAS
It may be soft power, but it still packs a punch.
Facing penalties.
AP Photo/Petr David Josek
Soccer’s governing body has long sheltered behind a view that the game is apolitical. Sanctioning Russia over invasion exposes why that doesn’t hold.