Celtic FC fans hold up Palestinian flags during a match against Israeli football team Hapoel Beer Sheva in 2016. Photo: Reuters.
By Sary Farraj – Nov 19, 2022
The 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar kicks off on Sunday, November 20. While FIFA and other international sports organizations have traditionally professed that politics and sports should be kept separate, after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces there seem to be no questions about the place of politics in sports, and more specifically in association football. Given that, this World Cup constitutes an unprecedented opportunity for spreading awareness and raising the question of Palestine in arguably one of the world’s most important international events.
Following the Russian invasion in February of this year, UEFA and FIFA presented unconditional support to Ukraine in several ways. The Russian national team and Russian clubs were suspended from the 2022 World Cup and their respective European competitions merely four days following the attack on eastern Ukraine. In addition, the Ukrainian flag was raised in stadiums, printed on captains’ armbands, and shown on TV screens next to the score, in addition to clubs and fans organizing fundraisers and charity events to the people of Ukraine. More recently, Robert Lewandowski, Poland’s national team captain, pledged he would wear a captain’s armband with Ukrainian colors in the World Cup after it was given to him by former Ukraine captain and coach Andriy Shevchenko, whose team narrowly missed qualification for this year’s tournament. These political gestures are not firsts by any means, but we are clearly seeing an increasingly visible and direct involvement of politics in football.
In fact, international politics has been at the center of this World Cup since the host site was announced by FIFA in 2010. The legitimacy of the award and the bidding process, the suitability of Qatar as a host nation, and myriad human rights issues including allegations of slavery and the death of over 6,000 construction workers have been constantly raised by activists, the media, and even players. Members of both the Norwegian and the German national teams recently expressed their discontent with Qatar and wore t-shirts advocating for human rights. Hummel International, a Danish sportswear brand that designs and produces kits for the Danish national team, specifically released a toned-down version of their kit, barely showing their crest and logo, as a statement over human rights abuses Qatar is faced with. Moreover, Qatar has received political criticism surrounding the country’s treatment of the LGBTQ+ community. While the World Cup organizers have said all fans are welcomed without discrimination, the country itself prohibits same-sex relations and warns fans to be careful in their display of affection. Eight of the 13 European teams participating in the tournament have announced their decision to wear rainbow-colored armbands in an act of political commentary, while both the German and the English national teams traveled to Qatar in aircraft adorned with pride colors, and the US team incorporated the colors with their crest design on their kit and training center. While the association of politics and sports was previously frowned upon, now it seems that players who refuse to make such gestures increasingly come under fire.
At the beginning of last October, the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies (ACRPS) whose general director is former Knesset member and Balad party founder Azmi Bishara, held a symposium in Doha to discuss the 2022 World Cup through several academic disciplines such as sociology, political science, and cultural studies. Among the topics discussed were the opportunities sports introduce as new outlets for Palestinian resistance. The situation of Ukraine was discussed as an opportunity to highlight the double standard that western countries and sporting organizations hold toward the Palestinian struggle. Several ACRPS researchers also argued that the 2022 World Cup has a vast potential for building soft power and political influence, in addition to advancing political, national, and cultural issues relevant to the Arab world. Qatar’s position as a traditional ally for Palestinian struggle and its reputation as a mediator country in the Middle East places it in an optimal position to promote political discussions over Palestine and increase the momentum.
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The increasing prevalence of politics in sports, the situation of Ukraine, and Qatar’s unique stance towards the Palestinian struggle all contribute to creating an environment that is favorable for advancing discussions over Palestine in football and sports, something that was previously considered taboo by international sports organizations. For example, in 2016 Celtic FC was fined £8,600 because their ultra-fans group, the Green Brigade, showered the North Curve section of Celtic Park with Palestinian flags when they hosted Hapoel Beer-Sheva in a Champions League Qualification match. Now Palestinian flags can be seen almost in every match in the North Curve, and the double standards of western countries cannot be denied.
This fact was elegantly stated by Omar Faraj, the Egyptian squash player who in March 2022 won the Optasia Championships held in London and said: “We have never been allowed to speak about politics in sports but all of a sudden, it’s allowed. So (now) that we are allowed, I hope that people also look at the oppression everywhere in the world. I mean the Palestinians have been going through that for the past 74 years, but I guess because it doesn’t fit the narrative of the media of the west we couldn’t talk about it, but now that we can talk about Ukraine, we can talk about the Palestinians so please keep that in mind.”
Already there have been calls for Arab national teams’ captains to wear Palestinian flag armbands, to raise the Palestinian flag in stadiums, and to normalize support for Palestine in the same way that it has been taken for granted for Ukraine. Embedded in the 2022 World Cup is the potential to take discussions over the Palestinian struggle for national self-determination to the next level. The stars have aligned to create this opportunity and it should not be squandered.
