Truth Behind the Shining Rings

Nita Vasadze

Under the shimmering lights of the stadium, the world watches in awe. Athletes push their
limits, coaches guide with all they have, teams put all their trust in each other, nations unite
in celebration, and for those few weeks, everything else fades away. The Winter and
Summer Olympics, the FIFA World Cup all are symbols of excitement, buzz, and glamour.
However, beyond these global fanfares and athletic feats, there hides away a strategic
public relations tactic also known as sportswashing.

Sportswashing is a word that not many know or have heard of. It describes a phenomenon
during which governments and corporations use these huge sports events to divert people’s
attention from real and much more important global issues. It is used to furnish one’s image
during a controversy and simply to distract people. And we all fall for it, every time!

In 1936, Adolf Hitler used the Berlin Olympics to show how great Nazi German sportsmen
were. However, this in reality was a propaganda stunt painted as a sports event. Fast
forward nearly a century, the tactics have changed but the goal remains the same: cover up
the nations’ wrongdoings using people's love for sports.

Misplaced Priorities in Saudi Arabia

Imagine a normal teenage girl, named Aisha, living in Saudi Arabia. Every day, Aisha is a
victim of gender inequality, her dreams are put off due to improper education and she lives in
a place that has been severely damaged by climate change. All she wants are the simple
opportunities that many girls around the world take for granted. Things that Aisha deserves
just like everyone else, but instead of investing in this girl’s future her country is spending
billions on football.

According to the Guardian1, Saudi Arabia has spent 6.3 billion dollars from early 2021 to
2023 in sports deals. To put into perspective, this is almost the same amount as South
Sudan’s GDP. The country has been making these wasteful investments from its’ Public
Investment Fund that have completely altered football’s market.

Where has Saudi Arabia been spending money

instead of funding Aisha’s dreams? To break
down, PIF has invested $2.3 billion into football
teams and sponsorships. This includes clubs
like Al Hilal that placed a record-breaking bid of
300 million dollars on Kylian Mbappe. Another
club, Al Nassr, signed the highest-paid athlete
in the world, Cristiano Ronaldo. Additionally, in
2021, PIF bought Newcastle United for another
391 million dollars.

But why football? Human rights group Grant

Liberty mentioned that brands, athletes, and teams have renewed their partnership with
Saudi Arabia. Before, they rejected them because of the extensive human rights issues;
however, suddenly their partnership has rekindled. As if a switch was flipped, all the
companies that once rejected business with Saudi Arabia are now blinded by their wealth.

Imagine, even if a fraction of that money was spent on improving the lives of girls like Aisha
and many other Saudi Arabian citizens. There would be better schools, clean water, and a
safe environment. Instead, they are using universal sports like football to distract people
from the harsh realities of their everyday lives. Aisha might be fictional but this is the reality
for millions of people.

Distraction Over Diplomacy

In 2014, Sochi hosted the Winter Olympics; therefore, all eyes were turned towards the city.
A competition that became the most expensive Olympics in history. Sochi is a very well-
known and famous beach resort with its Black Sea coastline. However, Putin decided to turn
it into the host of winter sports overnight to better mask the Ukrainians’ suffering during the
annexation of Crimea.

Sochi which is a city filled with palm trees and rocky beaches went through an extensive
construction of sporting venues, infrastructure, and accommodation. It had an extreme
environmental impact on the city; however, Putin did not care because it served a bigger
cause in his scheme.

1 Michaelson, Ruth. 2023. “Revealed: Saudi Arabia’s $6bn Spend on ‘Sportswashing.’” The Guardian,
July 26, 2023, sec. World news.
Exactly 2 weeks after the world celebration started in Sochi, Russia annexed Crimea. While
most of the people, all over the world were distracted, Ukraine faced utmost aggression and
lost territories. Due to a bigger focus on sports than geopolitical problems Ukraine was
abandoned by the international community.

Just after 4 years, Russia used the same exact tactic to polish its international image after
occupying Ukraine’s territories. They hosted the FIFA World Cup. In this case, the matters of
hosting the championship were even more alarming. Reports suggest that Russian
President Vladimir Putin used his influence and nations money to get the votes of FIFA
presidents to host the competition in his country.

All while Ukrainians were struggling, going through a social uprising, and people living in
Crimea were displaced, Russia spent $14 billion on infrastructure and preparations of world
one of the biggest and the most popular championships. To add on this, during construction
at least 21 people died because of a horrible working environment which is the same amount
as one whole football team.

While football fans celebrated globally, Ukrainians' voices were left unheard and the
conditions of those affected by this conflict went unnoticed by almost everyone. The FIFA
World Cup became nothing more than another tool for Putin to divert attention from its
geopolitical conflicts. Therefore, it is always essential to dig deeper and find the real
consequences of everything. In this case, the festivities, triumph, and celebration.

Building 2020 FIFA World Cup - No Way Home

In India, Mumbai set Ashwini Kumar in front of his TV watching people celebrate Messi and
Argentina or cry over Mbappe. However, he did not share the sentiment. All he could think
about was his older brother who had not come back from the celebration. How much they
could have enjoyed all of these together. However, Vinod, Ashwini’s brother was offered a
job 3 years prior to the World Cup to go to Qatar and be a part of the construction of
stadiums that soon would host the event of his dreams. Vinod always loved football, it was a
huge part of him, therefore went to Qatar right away.

Vinod Kumar never returned home. Ashwini Kumar gave an interview to NPR's Lauren
Frayer2 where he said "I got a call from his colleagues. They used my nickname – Chhote,
the young one. It's something only my family would call me. They said my brother was
missing and hung up. Then they called back and told me he was dead." Right after, his
family got multiple phone calls, some said he died from suicide and some mentioned an
accident during construction. However, a clear answer never came. Vinod was 28 and one
of many in Qatar who never saw their family ever again.

After abruptly winning the bid for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Qatar had to build seven new
stadiums with the most complex air conditioning systems from the ground up. They hired up
to 30,000 workers from East Asian countries who had their passports taken from them by the

2 Frayer, Lauren. 2022. “Death and Dishonesty: Stories of Two Workers Who Built the World Cup
Stadiums in Qatar.” NPR.org, December 2, 2022.
business owners to stop them from leaving the country which was allowed by the 'kafala
system’, Qatar’s labour law. Not only this but, working conditions reached unbearable levels,
they had to work in 40 degrees Celsius every day. According To the Guardian’s newspaper3,
more than 6,000 did not survive this torture.

Along with these people, Qatar’s environment

suffered the consequences of the World Cup. They
had to implement extensive air conditioning
systems in all the new stadiums because in
general, it is very hard to play football in Qatar due
to their high temperatures. In return, this increased
the CO2 emissions. Despite FIFA's claims that the
tournament would be carbon-neutral, experts like
Mike Berners-Lee from Lancaster University looked
into it and estimated that the actual carbon footprint was at least three times more than they
claimed. But who would pay attention to these issues when they had Leonel Messi to watch?

Masking Reality with High-Profile Partnerships

In front of all these mistreated people, suffering, pollution, and covered-up images of
countries stand sponsorships, trying to hide the bad and divert people's attention to the
good. Sponsorships have become the main tool for sportswashing because they provide
countries with a platform that associates them with popular and prestigious sporting events,
teams, or athletes. By partnering with high-profile sports events, governments and
corporations can change the focus away from their questionable actions. They gain an
extensive amount of financial support and visibility through these associations which also
helps them cover their wrong-doings and continue their horrible activities without worry.

As it has become clear, sportswashing is a misleading tactic that most of the time goes
unnoticed. Behind the happiness and anticipation are very real issues that must not be less
important than sports events. Therefore, I urge you to stay vigilant and always question the
narrative they present to us, the normal people just watching sports for fun. By staying
informed and aware, we can see beyond the shining rings and help the dreams of girls like
Aisha come true.

Bibliography:

BBC. 2022. “World Cup 2022: Why Is the World Cup in Qatar so Controversial? - CBBC
Newsround.” Www.bbc.co.uk, November 20, 2022.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/63557689.

3 Pattisson, Pete, and Niamh McIntyre. 2021. “Revealed: 6,500 Migrant Workers Have Died in Qatar
as It Gears up for World Cup.” The Guardian, 2021, sec. Global development.
Filipov, David. 2017. “Russia Spent $50 Billion on the Sochi Olympics.” The Washington
Post. November 15, 2017. https://shorturl.at/k3alh.

Frayer, Lauren. 2022. “Death and Dishonesty: Stories of Two Workers Who Built the World
Cup Stadiums in Qatar.” NPR.org, December 2, 2022.
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/12/02/1140260086/the-world-cup-has-
taken-a-toll-on-the-migrant-workers-who-made-it-possible.

Michaelson, Ruth. 2023. “Revealed: Saudi Arabia’s $6bn Spend on ‘Sportswashing.’” The
Guardian, July 26, 2023, sec. World news.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/26/revealed-saudi-arabia-6bn-spend-on-
sportswashing.

Pattisson, Pete, and Niamh McIntyre. 2021. “Revealed: 6,500 Migrant Workers Have Died in
Qatar as It Gears up for World Cup.” The Guardian, 2021, sec. Global development.
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/feb/23/revealed-migrant-worker-
deaths-qatar-fifa-world-cup-2022.

Worden, Minky. 2018. “Russia’s Bloody World Cup.” Human Rights Watch. July 13, 2018.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/07/13/russias-bloody-world-cup.