The Data Behind Qatar’s Historically Expensive World Cup
It took a decade (and $300 billion) to gear up for this very moment.
Let the games begin.
Photographer: Stuart Franklin/Getty Images EuropeThe 2022 World Cup opens play today, with the first match between Ecuador and host Qatar, to the joy of football fans all over the world. Well, you know, except Americans. (Though recruiting Jon Hamm as Santa to get us in the mood could make me a believer.) More than a million people are expected to converge on Qatar for the next month, watching their teams vie for the sport’s most coveted prize.
Qatar, the tiny Middle Eastern nation with oodles of money but very little in the way of football tradition, was granted hosting duties by FIFA more than a decade ago, and it's been a decision mired in controversy and allegations of corruption ever since. As Martin Ivens reminds us, the bureaucrats who run international sporting events like the World Cup “don’t care about the politics as long as the games run to schedule. It’s just business.” And what business it’s been, as Lara Williams can attest: