2022 Fifa World Cup

For nearly a decade, Russia and Qatar have been suspected of buying votes to win hosting rights for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. On Monday, for the first time, the Department of Justice put things in black and white.

Since FIFA awarded the 2022 World Cup to Qatar in 2010, the tournament has been ensnared in a tangled web of scandals.

Doha — Qatar has invited the radical preacher Dr. Zakir Naik, infamous for his endorsing views on suicide bombings, to teach the FIFA fans about Islam.

The famous ScreenMix entertainment magazine tweeted on Saturday, “Qatar invited the famous Islamic preacher Dr. Zakir Naik to deliver religious lectures during the 2022 World Cup.

In a recent article, the Pakistan-based Urdu-language pro-Taliban daily Roznama Ummat examined the Qatari government's preparations for da'wa ("preaching," "invitation to Islam") at the FIFA World Cup beginning on November 20, 2022. Da'wa is an important part of Islam whereby Muslims are expected to invite non-Muslims to embrace the religion. The article, titled "FIFA World Cup And Da'wa Of The Religion," and written by Islamic religious scholar Zia Chitrali, explains various media activities and events planned to explain Islam to non-Muslim spectators and to try to persuade them to convert. As part of these events planned by Qatari officials, thousands of volunteers will engage in da'wa and free books and pamphlets highlighting Islamic teachings will be distributed among the spectators. In a recent article, the Pakistan-based Urdu-language pro-Taliban daily Roznama Ummat examined the Qatari government's preparations for da'wa ("preaching," "invitation to Islam") at the FIFA World Cup beginning on November 20, 2022. Da'wa is an important part of Islam whereby Muslims are expected to invite non-Muslims to embrace the religion. The article, titled "FIFA World Cup And Da'wa Of The Religion," and written by Islamic religious scholar Zia Chitrali, explains various media activities and events planned to explain Islam to non-Muslim spectators and to try to persuade them to convert.

As part of these events planned by Qatari officials, thousands of volunteers will engage in da'wa and free books and pamphlets highlighting Islamic teachings will be distributed among the spectators. [1].

Exclusive: Construction firms allegedly paid ‘millions’ to buy and lease machinery from the Taliban for infrastructure, according to sources.

The Taliban made millions from the World Cup by providing construction equipment to build stadiums in Qatar, The Telegraph understands. Senior Taliban officials used lucrative salaries tied to peace talks to buy and then subcontract heavy machinery for tournament infrastructure over the past decade, a source from the Taliban's Doha office revealed. A large contingent of the Taliban leadership lived in Doha, the capital of Qatar, from 2013 onward where they were engaged in long-running peace talks with the US and UN. “The Taliban invested heavily in the World Cup construction and the tournament was a golden duck. They were paid millions,” claimed the source, who lived in Doha in the decade running up to the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021. “Some Taliban members had between six and ten pieces of heavy machinery each in Doha and would earn up to £10,000 per machine per month.” Two separate senior Taliban sources described how officials were given lucrative allowances to live in the country during the peace negotiations, which was then invested in heavy construction machinery.

Iran’s soccer team blanked 10-man Wales Friday as World Cup host Qatar prevented Iranian fans from expressing their support for the ongoing protests in their the country. 

Iranian fans, who wanted to take flags other than the official one approved by the Islamic Republic to the Al Rayyan’s Ahmad bin Ali Stadium, were stopped by security officers. Many people were barred from carrying or waving Iran’s ancient flag with the Lion and Sun emblem or a simple three-color flag with the main motto of the current wave of protests – Woman, Life, Liberty.

Documents obtained by Iran International show Iran was coordinating secret efforts with Qatar to control who attends the World Cup and restrict any signs of dissent.

Black Reward, a hactivist group that found access to Fars News Agency files this week provided an audio tape of a meeting between a Revolutionary Guard general and a group of media managers or representatives from outfits affiliated with the IRGC about plans to use the sporting event to the benefit of the regime in Tehran. A six-minute audio segment of a tape features General Ghasem Ghoreyshi (Qasem Qoreyshi), deputy commander of the paramilitary Basij and a group of reporters including the one from Fars News who met with him possible in the presence of other trusted reporters to discuss the latest developments including plans for the World Cup. The meeting took place on Tuesday 15th of November. Ghoreyshi starts by saying that “anti-revolutionaries” have bought “5,330 tickets” to the tournament and adds that “our boys have checked the list of the ticket holders and at least 500 people” are known opponents of the Iranian regime.

This is the first piece of evidence of collaboration with Qatar, showing that Iran obtained the list of ticket buyers most probably from Qatari authorities.

Although seemingly spontaneous, #FreePalestine flags at #WorldCup2022 are propaganda props organized by #Palestinian organizations. Palestinian activists hand out flags to be smuggled into the stadiums and be raised at the 48th minute each game.

You just have to like World Cup outsiders Morocco – don't you? Adding an anti-Semitic touch to the joy makes things difficult.

Palestine plays along: Morocco's team after reaching the quarter-finals

How could we not be happy that Morocco has one of the eight best football teams in the world ! Finally a team that doesn't come from Europe or South America! In addition - and now follows an interpretation that is surprisingly seldom read at present - a North African team that has gradually chased one colonial power after the other off the football field: Belgium in the preliminary round, Spain in the round of 16; now another nation is waiting with Portugal, which owes its wealth largely to its colonial past. Next, France and the Netherlands could be decolonized in terms of football.

Instead of this, I think, obvious interpretation, the Moroccan success is overlaid with a lot of Palestine symbolism. The Moroccan team held up a Palestine flag after defeating Spain. Tunisian fans did something similar in the preliminary round. And some Qataris are now wearing a "pro-Palestine" armband in response to the Europeans' "One Love" armband, which they see as an impertinence.

At first, that seems childishly defiant: ugh, we have our protest too! From a political point of view, however, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is used here to assert an alleged Arab unity. As if fans from Maghreb countries were in the same boat as the Qatari ruling families! In order to prevent protests, which could not least come from Palestinian migrant workers in Qatar, ruling families from the emirate and other regimes are building a bugbear called "Palestine Solidarity". It is not without reason that Qatar has been financially supporting the terror that the Islamist Hamas is waging against Israel for years.

There is a historical precedent for the transparent pro-Palestine propaganda that so characterizes the World Cup. In 1963, a counter-Olympics were held in Jakarta. Ganefo called it "Games of the New Emerging Forces". What was supposed to look like a sympathetic rebellion from the then so-called Third World countries was the project of the Indonesian President Sukarno. It was explicitly directed against Israel's participation in world sport.

Anti-racism is still necessary, it can be expressed, for example, in joy at Moroccan soccer successes. But giving that joy an anti-Semitic touch is the twist that gangs like the Qatari dynasty want to use to secure their power.