Forget virtue signalling: this World Cup is a magnet for deals in the desert
Politicians, royalty and even Ivanka Trump are enjoying lavish hospitality in Qatar. It all adds up to a home win for the Gulf state

At Doha’s ritzy La Mar restaurant on Tuesday night, American politicians and Qatari diplomats mingled over sushi, fine wines and Cuban cigars. Visiting politicos ambled down to the waterside to gaze at the city’s illuminated skyline and exchange bipartisan pleasantries.
The American group, which included several prominent members of Congress, had been flown over to Qatar on an educational trip that took in the USA v Wales game. But there was little discussion of soccer at dinner — this was all about high politics.
There are two World Cups taking place in Doha this month: there’s the fan tournament of stuffy portable cabins, dazzling volleys and overpriced pints. Then there are the hard power politics and lavish status Olympics taking place behind the scenes, in sealed diplomatic bubbles and at restaurants like La Mar.

This is where the real rewards of the tournament are to be found for Qatar: affirming their role at the heart of international diplomacy, becoming a magnet for global wealth, a convenor of Middle Eastern interests.
“This World Cup has backfired” is a refrain you often hear back in Britain, amid the torrent of outrage that has been levelled at Qatar. The locals certainly don’t seem much exercised by the football itself; Qatari fans leave early when their team is behind.
A waste of time and money then? An arrogant piece of diplomatic overreach that’s brought nothing but grief and white elephants? There’s certainly some truth to this. But while they may be losing on the pitch, Qatar’s $200 billion World Cup has also delivered some significant benefits.
Eminences have begun turning up. On Thursday, the Emir of Qatar met with King Felipe VI of Spain. At the Brazil v Serbia match that evening, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump turned up with their family and watched the game alongside the Qatari prime minister, and also went to the USA v England game on Friday night.

Among the most important political moments was the appearance of Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), the Saudi crown prince, sitting one up from the Emir of Qatar at the opening match last Sunday, with Fifa president Gianni Infantino squeezed between them.
Until last year, Saudi Arabia was leading a blockade of Qatar that began in 2017. Three of Qatar’s neighbours: Saudi, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain became fed up with its support for the Muslim Brotherhood and implemented tough economic sanctions. Just a year later, MBS was wearing a Qatar scarf and cheering on the home side at the Al-Bayt stadium.
Unlike other Gulf states, Qatar has not signed an accord with Israel. But in its attempt to unite the region behind its World Cup, there has been a slight softening of relations with Jerusalem. Flights carrying Israelis and Palestinians have been welcomed into Doha, Israeli journalists are operating on the ground here and a rabbi has been handing out kosher bagels baked in Qatar Airways ovens.
Of similar significance to the MBS choreography was the visit of US secretary of state Antony Blinken, who also showed up to the US game midweek along with his congressional colleagues. A longtime soccer fan, Blinken enjoyed America’s hard-fought draw with Wales. More importantly, he also gave a press conference alongside foreign minister Mohammed Al-Thani.
Blinken delivered an obligatory rap on the knuckles over LGBT rights and migrant workers but these reprimands were gentle. Elsewhere was generous praise, which the Qataris found reassuring. “We meet at what is a high point of the five-decade long diplomatic relationship between our countries,” Blinken said. “The security ties between us have never been stronger.”
The implicit message of Blinken’s visit was clear: thank you. In the past year, Qatar has become arguably America’s most useful ally in the Middle East.
Relations between the US and two traditional friends in the area, Saudi Arabia and Israel, are increasingly frosty. Qatar, on the other hand, has taken a clear pro-Western stance on Ukraine, plugging some of the energy gaps left by Putin’s war with its own sought-after liquefied natural gas.
The rewards of this assistance have been considerable: revenues from the ballooning oil and gas sector rose 67 per cent in the first half of 2022. Indirectly then, Putin has paid for a fair chunk of this World Cup himself.
Qatar, which has links to the Taliban, also played a central role in helping the Biden administration clear up its messy withdrawal from Afghanistan, securing safe passage for stranded Americans and saving the US from further humiliation.
Underpinning all this is Al Udeid, America’s largest military base in the Middle East, which is situated just outside Doha and houses more than 10,000 troops. So no matter its moral qualms, America needs Qatar and will swallow whatever distaste it feels; much as it did with Saudi Arabia for decades.
The British media has led the way in taking Qatar to task for its human rights abuses. But our government is also clear-eyed about regional realpolitik: RAF jets are housed at Al Udeid and it was used as a base for airstrikes against Isis.
On the Corniche waterfront in Doha, the British Council has sponsored the creation of an idyllic country garden to promote our wares. “Britain is about more than just fish and chips,” the promotional video trills, sounding like a bad Liz Truss speech. “West country cheddar and Welsh lamb are the best in the world.”
Despite the eye-watering cost, there is plenty of financial upside from this tournament too. No matter how much Fifa fiddles the attendance figures, stadiums in Doha have been far from full. Nonetheless, this is by some distance the most lucrative World Cup ever held. Football became the playground of the global rich some years ago, but the past week in Doha has taken the game into a new sphere. Fifa is expecting its revenue from Qatar to hit $7.5 billion, an increase of $1 billion from Russia in 2018. Nasser al-Khater, the chief executive of Qatar 2022, has estimated that the tournament will contribute $17 billion to the country’s economy. The scale of gambling around the tournament has surprised even the bookmakers, with up to $1 billion per match being wagered, as the relaxation of sports betting laws in the US brings new money into the market.
Match, which runs all of the luxury hospitality packages at the World Cup, has already smashed its own revenue records from previous tournaments, racking up an estimated $800 million. “Our customers have continued to climb up the aspirational pyramid,” Jaime Byrom, Match’s chief executive, told me.
Curious to see behind the velvet rope, I snagged an invite to Match’s “Pearl Lounge” for Saudi Arabia v Argentina at Lusail stadium on Tuesday. Hospitality tickets for the lounge start at $5,000, while a package for the semi-finals and final comes in at $35,000. The suite above the lounge, which has its own bedroom, was reportedly hired for the duration of the tournament at a hefty £2.1 million.
The scene at Lusail felt more Monaco Grand Prix than match day. We were welcomed by lissome hostesses wielding golden teapots. Saudi business tycoons and former Fifa executives queued impatiently for a buffet heaving with culinary status symbols: squid ink spaghetti, lobster claws, wagyu tenderloin, all catered by British super-chef Jason Atherton.
Forget Roy Keane’s old complaint about the “prawn sandwich brigade” taking over football: my bowl of hummus came smothered in caviar and black truffle.
People didn’t seem all that interested in the actual game, and the crowd was still waiting for seconds at the seafood bar when Saudi scored their shock equaliser, triggering a Tattinger-spilling stampede back into the ground.
It’s not exactly fair, that moneyed elites quaff bubbly and scotch, while the grunts in the cheap seats aren’t even allowed a pre-match beer. But life isn’t fair, which is perhaps the fundamental point of this World Cup. Some countries sit on giant gas fields; others really don’t.
The Miu Miu’d opulence of the England team entourage, installed aboard HMS Wag in the old port, pales into comparison to the plutocrats currently frolicking in Doha: Bahraini oil barons; high rolling Japanese gamblers; Nigerian energy parvenus; crypto dudes spending their last bitcoins; even a few minigarchs fleeing wartime Russia.
None of them are talking about human rights. For these nominal football fans, the tournament is little more than a backdrop to gold-flecked life in the 0.1 per cent. For the tiny, vulnerable peninsula of Qatar, the World Cup is an unrivalled opportunity to flaunt its wares, secure its future and nail down its seat at the global top table. Beyond the goals and the glitz, for the hosts this World Cup is really an exercise in power. However rational the objections to it were, however high the hurdles and absurd the demands, Qatar went ahead and did it anyway. Because it could.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/forg ... -r6h3cjc2f