The controversy surrounding the history of the World Cup?

The World Cup is one of the largest events in the global sporting calendar and happens every four years. Each time, a different country is responsible for hosting this event. In recent history there have been concerns about some of the host countries, for example, South Africa (2010), Brazil (2014) and Qatar (2022).

South Africa

South Africa were accused of bribing the FIFA to let them hold the 2010 World Cup with £6.5m. Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula clearly denied the £6.5m bribe that the US accused them of giving to FIFA. He claimed that South Africa was not involved in the transferring of illegal money for the purposes of the 2010 World Cup. Mr Mbalula confidently told reporters that the financial statements before and after the tournament received "a clean audit" from the auditor general The official indictment against South Africa from the US also mentions an earlier incident when a high ranking South African bid committee official allegedly handed over “a briefcase containing bundles of US currency in $10,000 stacks” in Paris to the former FIFA Vice President Jack Warner. He has once again denied all the allegations.

Brazil

There was a long list of controversies before the tournament started including mass evictions, violent protests, and police brutality.

Mass Evictions

Thanks to the World Cup, more than 250,000 people were either directly or indirectly forcefully removed from the living spaces. Some experts say Brazilian politicians used the games as an excuse to clear out Brazilian slums and reclaim them. Eleven million Brazilians lived across these slums. The government compensated the evicted with only $22,000, not even close to enough for these people to get by. The evictions mostly affected the poor because their property rights are not recognized for Brazil’s legal system.

Protests and Police Brutality

Demonstrations against the games’ astronomical spending saw police brutality. Citizens protested the government’s clearing of the Brazilian slums in order to accommodate the games, as well as the vast spending on the games when there was already such as wealth disparity in the country. Protesters questioned why the country would spend so much on the FIFA World Cup when so many Brazilians don’t have access to health care and other basic needs to begin with.

Qatar

Ever since the announcement of the World Cup hosts in 2010, Qatar has been in the midst of controversy and dispute, due to allegations of bribery, corruption, and a host of scandalous accusations. Qatar’s football heritage is minimal, and the country is more famous for being one of the richest states in the world. While Qatar has denied allegations of it buying delegates’ votes, a corruption investigation from French authorities has taken place. The US also accused three FIFA officials of receiving payments in 202. However, the FIFA president Sepp Blatter revealed the committee had decided to take football to “new lands” in an attempt to “develop football”. Furthermore, the Qatari football team has never previously qualified for a World Cup for either the men’s or women’s teams. Having been awarded the right to host the 2022 tournament, Qatar became the first country since Italy in 1934 to play in a World Cup without qualifying for it.