William Bolton Editor


Comment


World Cup Special


Twelve years on from the announcement that the 2022 World Cup would be hosted by Qatar, it's still difficult to believe a country smaller than Yorkshire will be home to the world's biggest sporting competition. Putting aside the country's lack of football heritage or infrastructure, fans are generally happy for the tournament to go to ‘new lands’ - a phrase used by the disgraced former President of FIFA, Sepp Blatter, as he boasted in 2010. What should be a cause for celebration - the first World Cup in the Middle East - is instead blighted by scandal.


The few fans who can afford to fly out - paying roughly £200 a night to stay in a storage container - will attend matches in stadiums built by tens of thousands of migrant workers. 6,500 of these workers from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have died according to The Guardian, whilst Amnesty International accuses the Qatari government of using forced labour. Many labourers have lived in squalid accommodation, forced to pay huge recruitment fees, had their wages withheld and passports confiscated.


IT'S DIFFICULT TO BELIEVE A COUNTRY SMALLER THAN YORKSHIRE WILL BE HOME TO THE WORLD'S BIGGEST SPORTING COMPETITION.


Despite all of the above and notwithstanding the lunacy of football being played in farcically hot temperatures, the Qatar World Cup will be a mammoth betting event. By all accounts, it might well be the biggest ever - €250bn in stakes “wouldn't be a surprise” according to Digitain’s Chief of Sportsbook Product, Zohrab Karapetyan. How American bettors respond to the tournament in the states, which have legalised sports betting in the last four years, will be a decent yard stick for how soccer has grown in popularity relative to the nation's ‘home’ sports of basketball, hockey and football.


Like many, I view this year's World Cup with deep cynicism. But I'll watch - and bet - and that's the crucial point. Very few football fans will switch off completely from the tournament, excluding Eric Cantona who has been an outspoken critic throughout. Nobody can be like Eric.


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William Bolton william@gamingpublishing.com


Managing Director Lewis Pek


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International Reporter James Marrison


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P6 WIRE / PULSE / INSIGHT / REPORTS


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Contributors Timothy Hill, Vasilis Betzelos, Anna Poghosyan, Tommy Molloy, Kevin Brocard, Chris Graham, Brandon Walker, Zohrab Karapetyan, Simon Noble, Christophe Casanova, Tomas Smallwood, Vladmimir Malakchi, Steve Rogers, Martin Wachter


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