Brief Analysis of Legal Issues Surrounding the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar

By: Daniel Cermak

I. Pre-Tournament Legal Issues

The next installment of one of the biggest sports competitions in the world has been enveloped in near-constant controversy. The 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar, from the time it was selected to host the tournament, faced outrage at the selection process, which led to the ousting of a number of soccer officials, including former FIFA President Sepp Blatter.[1] The corruption and bribery potentially involved in the selection process was then dwarfed by more allegations of human rights violations in the building of tournament infrastructure.[2] With FIFA unwilling to move the venue, a consideration of the legal considerations to look out for once the tournament starts is necessary. This blog will go through the legal issues arising in the lead-up to the tournament, as well as the issues that may arise once fans start to arrive in the Middle-Eastern country.

The main legal issues surrounding the tournament are the allegations of corruption and the human rights violations in the construction of the infrastructure required to catch the country up to traditional World Cup standards. The corruption and human rights violations surrounding the tournament have justifiably called the entire tournament into question, with proposals ranging from moving the tournament to flat out canceling it.[3]

A. Selection Process Scandal

When Qatar received the nomination over the likes of former hosts South Korea, the United States, and soccer-loving Japan and Australia, the reaction was one of shock.[4] That shock only increased, as more than half of the 22 FIFA officials involved in the final vote for the 2022 World Cup location face accusations of wrongdoing, and many were banned from soccer.[5] An example of such alleged corruption comes from Michael Platini, former French midfielder who was formerly European soccer federation president.[6] Platini was allegedly swayed and bribed to choose Qatar, which needed billions of dollars of infrastructure to even host the tournament, and would require changing the tournament from summer to winter, in order to avoid the worst of the Middle East heat (a move that required the changing of European soccer schedules for three seasons).[7]

In a summary report of an investigation into the selection process of Qatar, Hans Eckert found that an investigation led by Michael Garcia “established prima facie case that serious violations of bidding rules and the FIFA Code of Ethics have occurred.”[8] Despite this determination, Eckert stated that the selection of Qatar was not the result of bribery.[9] Garcia protested Eckert’s conclusion, called for full publication of Eckert’s findings, and Garcia then resigned when Eckert refused.[10]

With FIFA failing to provide clear public conclusions, the potential corruption will constantly shadow the 2022 World Cup.

B. Human and Worker’s Rights Violations

Regardless of the decision to select Qatar as the host was reached, the decision has already led to severe consequences for the millions of people, oftentimes refugees, who were called upon to build brand new infrastructure for the World Cup. Years of stories about human and worker’s rights violations involving stadium construction reached a boiling point when an investigation led by German journalist Benjamin Best revealed severe conditions world cup workers live with.[11] Best requested information from the Nepali government, that revealed that 1,426 Nepali workers in Qatar passed away between 2009 and 2019, with 111 dying in 2019 as of June 6, 2019.[12] An International Trades Union Confederation report estimated that 7,000 workers could die in Qatar before the tournament begins in 2022.[13]

Qatar finally enacted protections for workers in September of 2018, but given the problems that continue to exist, their effectiveness is certainly in question. The reforms in question included implementing a temporary $200 minimum monthly wage, establishing a committee for dispute resolution, and lifting a requirement that foreign workers receive permission from their Qatari employers to leave the country.[14] More changes may (and should) come in the near future, with hundreds of workers going on strike to protest poor working conditions, delayed wages and threats of pay cuts.[15]

Even with recent changes to labor laws and policies, more regulation should be implemented to protect workers’ rights in the country, especially as construction continues.

II. Future Legal Considerations

Despite the corruption in the selection process and the human rights violations, there has been no official suggestion or plan regarding moving the tournament, and, in fact, FIFA has taken no official responsibility for either the potentially corrupt selection process nor any of the deaths alleged to be a result of the infrastructure building.[16] With the tournament not going anywhere even amidst the controversy, legal issues surrounding the actual tournament itself should be considered as well.

A. Alcohol Restriction

One of the issues to consider about the actual day-to-day operation of the tournament is how alcohol will be handled in and around the venues. In general, Qatar greatly limits alcohol consumption, with it only legally available from stores with strict restrictions and from high-end hotels, bars, and clubs, but is illegal in public.[17] Even where it is legal, it is still heavily regulated and generally discouraged, as evidenced by a sudden addition of a sin tax to alcohol, which increased the price by 100 percent.[18] The question then becomes how drinking will be handled when the world comes together in the Winter of 2022.

The answer, for now at least, is unclear. On the one hand, the large tax on alcohol that remains in place is a definite indication that the country wants to continue with heavy regulation on the product, but recently, Qatar has “pledged” to subsidize alcohol for the tournament.[19] The potential subsidy comes with one condition: that England fans, who faced an alcohol ban during the 2018 World Cup in Russia, be on their best behavior in the tournament.[20] This promise came along with statements from Nasser al-Khater the chief executive officer of the 2022 World Cup, where he stated “[a]lcohol is not part of our culture,” and “We are also going to expect people to get acquainted with our norms and our culture and our laws[.]”[21]

With the World Cup, however, it’s unclear what Qatar’s laws will be, and whether the country itself will have any say in what changes. In the lead-up to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, the South American country had a strict ban on alcohol in stadiums not just out of societal expectations, but because of a high number of fans being killed at matches.[22] FIFA, however, pressured the country into passing a bill known as the “Budweiser Bill” (after one of FIFA’s major sponsors) that allowed for the sale of alcohol in stadiums during the 2014 World Cup.[23]

With evidence from Brazil that FIFA will take their commercial interests above safety, legal and cultural concerns, it can be expected that if Qatar does not change their alcohol policy to FIFA’s liking, FIFA might just change it for them.[24]

B. Counterfeiting

Wherever there is an opportunity to make money, counterfeiting will follow. Counterfeiting has been a severe problem in past World Cups, especially in Russia in 2018.[25] Not only did the counterfeiting in Russia involve merchandise sold in the country, but one of the sources of thousands of counterfeit tickets were produced inside of Russia.[26]

Qatar may be in more of an ideal situation to defend itself against counterfeiting. Qatar’s intellectual property protections were late to be established, but once they were, enforcement has improved.[27] The most notable protection for brand owners, especially in terms of the World Cup, protects brand owners from the “importing of any goods that infringe any of the rights under protection.”[28] The protection involved allows the General Directorate of Customs in the Ministry of Economy and Finance to take “the necessary measures to prevent the entry of prohibited goods into [Qatar].”[29]

Qatar is also already on the lookout for counterfeiting and is prioritizing the protection of IP rights in the lead-up to the tournament.[30] With the rampant nature of counterfeiting in the 2018 World Cup, however, it is possible we will see FIFA step into the product protection arena along with alcohol regulation.

III. Conclusion

The 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar has already been mired in legal controversies with corruption allegations along with human and worker’s rights violations. Because FIFA refuses to consider moving the tournament, these violations in the lead up to the tournament are paired with additional legal questions that will need resolved and analyzed before the opening match.

[1] Sam Borden, Sepp Blatter and Other Top Officials are Suspended, Deepening FIFA’s Turmoil New York Times (Oct. 8, 2015) https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/09/sports/soccer/sepp-blatter-michel-platini-jerome-valcke-fifa-suspended.html?module=inline.

[2] Aimee Lewis, Migrant Workers Subjected to Heat and Humidity being put at Risk, Says Human Rights Watch, CNN (Sep. 27, 2017) https://www.cnn.com/2017/09/27/football/qatar-2022-world-cup-workers-heat-humidity-human-rights-watch/index.html.

[3]Huffington Post, Bob Casey Wants to Move 2022 World Cup from Qatar to the U.S. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bob-casey-wants-to-move-2022-world-cup-from-qatar-to-the-us_n_5b574006e4b0cf38668fa275?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAKS_6sc6gjYYrNsAjm2AaDvgWvDIQCsm6yY0N_oaUINGW6nhyKYzZDpKIPD1mYeLSGkuNLszzyAI9UcKu0vd8k7Ga8xZamFfyPkMZ33IzY1tNsCrw0zcoJLzK0Bv7zbz-x8-Mh2uOH3VE6hvowNh8kkJ2dNipbbBaNGZPd2bbSJx; Franklin Foer, Cancel Qatar, The Atlantic (Jul. 7, 2019) https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/07/cancel-qatar-world-cup/593422/.

[4] Rory Smith, Four Years From its Big Party, Qatar Remains a Soccer Work in Progress, New York Times (Nov. 20, 2018) https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/20/sports/soccer/qatar-world-cup-2022.html?module=inline.

[5] Tariq Panja, Michael Platini is Detained in France Over Qatar World Cup, New York Times, (June 18, 2019) https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/18/sports/soccer/michel-platini-qatar-world-cup.html.

[6] Id.

[7] Id.

[8] Statement of the Chairman of the Adjudicatory Chamber of the FIFA Ethics Committee on the Report on the Inquiry into the 2018/2022 FIFA World Cup Bidding Process prepared by the Investigatory Chamber of the FIFA Ethics Committee, FIFA (November 13, 2014), at 4.3.6, http :1 /www. fifa. corn/mrn!document/affederation/footballgovernance/02/4 7/4117 5/statementchairrnanadjc heckert _neutral. Pdf (cited in Bruce W. Bean, An Interim Essay on FIFA's World Cup of Corruption: The Desperate Need for International Corporate Governance Standards at FIFA, 22 ILSA J. Int'l & Comp. L. 367, 378 (2016)).

[9] Id. at 6.3.5 (cited in Bruce W. Bean, An Interim Essay on FIFA's World Cup of Corruption: The Desperate Need for International Corporate Governance Standards at FIFA, 22 ILSA J. Int'l & Comp. L. 367, 378 (2016)).

[10] Id. at 7-8 (cited in Bruce W. Bean, An Interim Essay on FIFA's World Cup of Corruption: The Desperate Need for International Corporate Governance Standards at FIFA, 22 ILSA J. Int'l & Comp. L. 367, 378 (2016)).

[11] Benjamin Best, Twitter, (Jun. 8, 2019) https://twitter.com/bpbest/status/1137233270754684929 ('Trapped in Qatar' Full English Version of our investigative report for

@wdrsportinside

 #wdrsportinside #fifa #Qatar2022 #HumanRights).

[12] James Thorogood, Qatar 2022: FIFA Admits Violation of Workers’ Standards, DW (June 6, 2019) https://www.dw.com/en/qatar-2022-fifa-admits-violation-of-workers-standards/a-49078052

[13] International Trades Union Confederation, Frontlines Report 2015: Qatar: Profit & Loss (2015), https://www.ituc-csi.org/IMG/pdf/qatar_en_web.pdf.

[14] Heba Kanso, Despite Reforms, Qatar’s Migrant Workers Still Fear Exploitation, Reuters (Sep. 11, 2018), https://www.reuters.com/article/us-qatar-migrant-labour/despite-reforms-qatars-migrant-workers-still-fear-exploitation-idUSKCN1LS007.

[15] Human Rights Watch, Qatar: Migrant Workers Strike Over Work Conditions, (Aug. 8, 2019), https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/08/08/qatar-migrant-workers-strike-over-work-conditions.

[16]  Thorogood supra note 12 (admitting only that a private contractor failed to pay employees, but had subsequently resolved the issue in the following weeks).

[17] News Corp Australia Network, Qatar Introduces 100 Per Cent “Sin Tax,” Doubling Price of Alcohol Overnight, (Jan. 3, 2019), https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/food/qatar-introduces-100-per-cent-sin-tax-doubling-price-of-alcohol-overnight/news-story/04a48ce9f97e66db02b00bf1a9cc9a47.

[18] Id.

[19] Sean Ingle, Alcohol Set to be Subsidised and More Available at 2022 World Cup in Qatar, The Guardian (Sep. 26, 2019) https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/sep/26/alcohol-2022-football-world-cup-qatar.

[20] Id.

[21] Id.

[22] Basil Ugochukwu, Global Governance in All its Discrete Forms: The Game, FIFA, and the Third World, 33 Windsor Y.B. Access Just. 199, 209 (2016)

[23] Id.

[24] Id.

[25] Katrina Meggett, World Cup Mania a Boon for Counterfeiters, Securing Industry (Jun. 18, 2018).

[26] Id.

[27] Rasah Al Ardah, Qatar Passes a New Law for IP Border Measures, Al Tamimi & Co. (Apr. 2012), https://www.tamimi.com/law-update-articles/qatar-passes-a-new-law-for-ip-border-measures/.

[28] Law No. 17 of 2011 on Border Measures, Article 2, (Qat.)

[29] Id.

[30] The Peninsula Online, Supreme Committee Cautions Against Misuse of FIFA IP, (Sep. 3, 2019), https://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/article/03/09/2019/Supreme-Committee-cautions-against-misuse-of-FIFA-IP.

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