By Andrew Warshaw
March 26 – Hassan al-Thawadi’s (pictured) mood was as bright as the spring sun that shone down over Zurich. For months – no, make that years – Qatar’s multi-lingual 2022 World Cup organising chief has had to field all manner of attacks over his country’s right to stage the tournament, whether it should be in summer or winter and what would happen if workers’ rights were not improved.
Amid constant negative publicity and unfounded allegations of skullduggery during the bid process, al-Thawadi had always maintained his dignity, telling anyone who would listen that Qatar had no reason to fear the tournament being taken away.
So it was no surprise last week that al-Thawadi was all smiles as he stepped out of the Dolder hotel, a short drive from FIFA headquarters to speak to waiting reporters. Twenty-four hours earlier, world football’s governing body had finally dispelled all the doubt and the confusion by finally rubber-stamping a winter date for Qatar’s World Cup, with a December 18 final.
Al-Thawadi has always been approachable and courteous with the western media but has also at times been cautious and defensive. This time he was relaxed and confident, even cracking jokes with those he has seen on the circuit ever since the vote was won over four years ago. This time, he genuinely seemed to be enjoying the attention. This time, it was as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders and there was no mistaking his relief.
“It’s something that has been in discussion for quite some time,” he said with masterful understatement when addressing the first ever winter World Cup. “It’s time to move on, business as usual.”
Only occasionally did al-Thawadi sidestep a question such as when he was asked whether Qatar would have still won the ballot had the voting FIFA members known at the time that the tournament would be staged in winter. Or when, on the same theme, he was questioned about whether the whole thing had been a conspiracy from day one in terms of summer never standing a chance.
He knows, of course, that there is still a long way to go to convince a sceptical western public that Qatar will produce the goods. He knows the draconian kafala employment system has to be rectified, he knows the human rights of migrant workers have to be improved radically. “Progress is being made, I promise you. It may be gradual but it will be maintained on a day-by-day basis.”
Qatar, he said, no longer needed to convince anyone that it deserved the World Cup. “It’s not a question of a public relations strategy. We’ve always believed the world cup is a platform for allowing people to understand the Middle East. There will be a number of initiatives to promote this.”
Yet it wasn’t all sweetness and light.
As al-Thawadi and his team celebrated the latest landmark moment in the process, there were still dark forces publicly denouncing handing the World Cup to Qatar.
Outgoing German FIFA exco member Theo Zwanziger, surprisingly given a platform at the press conference that closed two days of exco meetings, still remains implacably opposed.
Sitting alongside FIFA president Sepp Blatter, Zwanziger was in no mood to be silenced as he made a goodbye speech to the international media, taking up a good part of the one hour allocated to the press conference. Zwanziger, don’t forget, was the official FIFA had appointed to liaise with the Qatari authorities over the welfare of construction workers and he took the opportunity to make one final stand about the wisdom – or otherwise – of the Gulf state staging the tournament.
“That decision was, according to my feelings, wrong,” said Zwanziger. “There were other contenders and a ranking [of conditions]. But still there was a decision in favour of Qatar. I think that was a wrong decision and I will not cease in my criticism of it. That is not a criticism of Qatar but a criticism against those who took that vote.”
There are, it has to be said, a good number of influential football people – and fans for that matter – who agree with him. But given how Zwanziger’s own image and reputation were savaged by UEFA this week, his words will hardly strike fear and alarm into al-Thawadi and his organising team.
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