Qatar 2022: Wrong timing, wrong host

The FIFA 2022 World Cup tagged Qatar 2022 starts on the 20^th of November and it might surprise you that the world isn’t talking about it much.

To put that in context, the World Cup is the most prestigious football tournament on the planet or like some sports pundits will call it “the Holy Grail” of all football competitions, as a matter of fact whatever year that a World Cup falls into, that year is tagged “The World Cup” because that is the significant thing that matters that year.

No disrespect to every football league across the globe but we all know once it is the “World Cup Year”, the World Cup overshadows every other tournament and by the time major football leagues are ending the season which is close to two months to the World Cup, what would be on everyone’s mind and lips is the World Cup. 

From players getting ready to represent their country by putting in their best performances for their club so they might get a call-up, to the coaches who are faced with the headache of selecting players. What about the fans? We get excited because know the World Cup comes with exceptional and beautiful football as we get ready to support our country while rooting for our favourite players. 

In a nutshell, every talk surrounding the World Cup in a “World Cup Year” is nothing but exciting but the majority of the talks surrounding the World Cup this year have been “bad”, “wrong time” or in the words of the former FIFA President Sepp Blatter who is actually responsible for giving the hosting right to Qatar; “it’s (Qatar) is too small for a country, football and World Cup are too big for it”, he also admitted to Swiss Newspaper Tages- Anzeiger that “the choice of Qatar was a mistake…..”

Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes said “…..it’s strange the World Cup starting next week. It’s not exactly the time we want to be playing in the World Cup”

Real Madrid star, Toni Kroos also had this to say “for this tournament to be awarded there (Qatar), I consider it wrong”

If I continue to search the internet trust me I would find more quotes from different football stakeholders who are against the World Cup being played in Qatar. Many will say some of those reasons are political but then again, the World Cup being hosted in Qatar was a political move but hey I don’t want to get into all of that.

Let me focus on us the football fans, November/December period is when major leagues around the world get tougher and more exciting, as a matter of fact it is said that any team topping the table by the end of December is most likely to win the league, which makes this time of the year crucial for football lovers. But now a lot of football fans are worried about their players going to the World Cup and picking up an injury that might keep them out after the World Cup.

Before Qatar 2022, football fans don’t worry about players getting injured at the World Cup as a matter of fact; fans get worried about their players picking up any form of injury before the World Cup as they don’t want to see their favourite miss out on the biggest football tournament in the world.  

Players usually have at least six weeks to recover from the World Cup before they start their preseason for their respective clubs but with Qatar 2022 coming to an end on the 18^th of December, a club like Manchester United will play Burnley on the 21st of December for the Fourth Round of the Carabao Cup, that’s not even up to a week break and these teams are already back in action. We know how the festive period is for Premier League clubs, the Premier League resumes officially 26^th of December, La Liga resumes 29^th, and the French Ligue 1 resumes 28^th, it’s obvious that football fans who support a team in this league would be on their knees praying that either their players have an injury free World Cup or their national team shouldn’t go far in the tournament.

One thing is certain though, nobody can predict how the tournament would turn out, it might be the best ever in terms of the quality of football played, we might witness the biggest upsets with the big boys not coming to the party or maybe it would be filled with some kind of political statement that would take the little glamour out of the World Cup.

But as it stands “Qatar 2022 is a mistake and a disaster waiting to happen” and that’s according to me Hafeestonova Onitilo, the writer of this article.