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A year late, the 2023 Asian Cup finally starts in 2024.
The COVID pandemic saw China withdraw as host, allowing Qatar to beat other bids, including those from Australia, to become the new host.
The wealthy Gulf country is hosting the event just over a year after hosting what FIFA President Gianni Infantino called the best World Cup ever.
As hosts of the region’s biggest football event for the third time and reigning champions, Qatar hopes to build on the legacy of this 2022 event.
Hassan Al Kuwari of the organizing committee says so far everything is going according to plan.
“We want to maintain our momentum and we want to keep the same level that we offered in the World Cup. We treated both tournaments in the same way and in the same way. We hope that we will have an Asian tournament with the World Cup.
A total of 24 Asian teams will play 51 matches across nine stadiums during the month-long tournament (January 12 – February 10).
Al Kuwari says the fans’ appetite is very healthy.
“The numbers are very impressive for us. We have sold around 900,000 tickets so far. We invite them to come and support their team, to be with us, to enjoy the time spent in Qatar and to have a good trip.”
Qatar has pledged to donate revenue from ticket sales to support Palestinians by providing medical and food aid in Gaza.
Emeritus Professor David Rowe of Western Sydney University studies the intersection between sport, politics and culture.
He said wealthy Middle Eastern countries, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, are emerging as new forces in global sport.
“Holding major sporting events in the Middle East is becoming normalized in a way. Let’s look more broadly at what’s happening in sports. It’s not just Qatar, which after this event, will host (a) qualification* (event for) the under-23 (football) tournament for the Paris Olympics later this year Saudi Arabia is also making huge strides in world sport, not just in football, although it will host the 2034 FIFA World Cup. The only other candidate for the host position was Australia, who didn’t even bother to apply because I think she realized that she had very little chance.
“If you look at Saudi Arabia, they invest heavily in football in their own league, and are involved in the English Premier Football League, LIV Golf. It’s talked about as a rival to the Australian Open in some ways . Most likely. offer a lot of money to win the Grand Slam away from Australia or certainly attract a number of players for its pre-tournament.
Human rights concerns and boycotts have been at the center of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, including the issue of the deaths of migrant workers during stadium construction – at an estimated cost of $9.7 billion (Australians).
Qatar World Cup chief Hassan Al-Thawadi admitted at the 2022 event that between 400 and 500 migrant workers had died because of work on tournament-related projects.
A Guardian analysis of data from government sources found that at least 6,500 migrant workers died in Qatar in the nine years to 2020, during stadium construction.
The workers came from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
More than a year after the World Cup, Human Rights Watch says there has been no redress for the underpayment and deaths of migrant workers who built the stadiums, which are now used for the World Cup. ‘Asia.
Dr Steve Georgakis, senior lecturer in sports studies at the University of Sydney, says one of the reasons these issues were less mentioned at this event was due to the narrower geographical scope of the tournament.
“Most of the countries that opposed human rights in Qatar were countries in advanced Western economies – most European countries, the United States and a few other countries. This is the Asian Football Confederation .And the most powerful bloc is actually the Middle East countries themselves. That’s why we haven’t heard much about it.
He says the war in Gaza threatens the event and the region, and that Qatar is seen as a peacemaker in the conflict, having brokered deals for a temporary ceasefire, a hostage exchange and a help.
The conflict meant less attention was paid to the plight of migrant workers at the Asian Cup.
Georgakis says disentangling sports and politics can be tricky.
“You can’t really separate human rights issues from global sporting events. But the more they invest in sports, the more powerful they become to control global sports, like corporations. And therefore fewer and fewer people There will be questions about this subject of human rights. But on the other hand, this could be an attempt by Middle Eastern countries to integrate into the world and become a globalized community.
Professor David Rowe says the term sportswashing has been used in the past in reference to oppressive governments who used sporting events to legitimize themselves and overshadow their human rights abuses.
But he believes it is better to think of it more broadly as sports diplomacy, that is, the strategic use of sport as a political tool to project a nation’s global image.
“Sportswashing – it’s a term that has been used cautiously. Firstly, almost all countries use it to a greater or lesser extent. And secondly, I think we have to be careful not to underestimate the problems economics here. So we’re talking about oil states, big resource rich nations in the Middle East who of course realize that the future of fossil fuels doesn’t look so bright. So how could they make money. money differently? United Arab Emirates – they have all planned, as part of their economic planning, to move away from fossil fuels and towards entertainment, information, sport, etc.
He says the Asian Cup falls under the governance of FIFA, which published its first human rights policy in 2017. The document commits the organization to protecting human rights and addressing failures when they occur, in accordance with the United Nations Guiding Principles for Business. and human rights.
Monash University’s Dr Tom Heenan researches – and teaches – on the themes of sport and culture.
He says he’s noticed less attention to human rights concerns in Qatar with the Asian Cup compared to the World Cup in 2022 – and that’s a concern.
“It really raises questions about how seriously we take human rights issues when it comes to sport – when we ignore things like the Asian Cup, but we will actually raise them when it There will be a World Cup.”
He says athletes are already speaking out about their human rights concerns, including the Socceroos who released a video in the run-up to the World Cup in Qatar, raising concerns about the treatment of migrant workers and criminalization LGBTIQ+ people in Qatar.
Heenan says consumers and sports fans have a role to play in thinking about these issues, which will help improve accountability and governance in sport.
“The players themselves have stepped up here and led the way. I think as a country we consume sport. We don’t think about the politics behind it. We don’t look at what’s happening in other “
