Qatar 2022: this World Cup has taken place in a crime scene

‘I have stayed in the odd fancy hotel over the years. If, however, I was arrested in one of them, I can’t get my head around the process that would lead to me still being treated as a valued customer even as I was led out to the police van.’ Illustration: Gary Neill

Two days out from the World Cup final, Qatar finishes hosting its tournament having very recently been declared “a frontrunner in labour rights”. “Today,” the declaration in question continued, “the World Cup in Qatar is proof of how sports diplomacy can achieve a historic transformation of a country.”

It feels only mildly unfortunate that the member of the European parliament who uttered these words three weeks ago is currently detained by Belgian police, after the discovery of almost €1m in banknotes in her marital home and a hotel room used by her father. After all, this has been a successful World Cup. Qatar has catapulted itself on to the world stage and won many plaudits. This timing is merely a freak coincidence.