TRANSCRIPT
A year behind schedule, the 2023 Asian Cup is finally underway in 2024.
The COVID pandemic saw China withdraw from its hosting duties, allowing Qatar to beat other bids, including from Australia, to become the new host.
The wealthy Gulf country is hosting the event little more than a year after it hosted what FIFA president Gianni Infantino called the best ever World Cup.
As a third time host of the region's premier football event, and the defending champions, Qatar is hoping to build on the legacy of that 2022 event.
Hassan Al Kuwari, from the Organising Committee, says so far is everything is going to plan.
"We want to keep the momentum, and we want to keep the same level what we provided in the World Cup. We treated the two tournaments in the same method, and same way. We hope that we will have an Asian tournament with World Cup."
A total of 24 Asian teams will play 51 games across nine stadiums over the month-long tournament (12 January -10 February).
Al Kuwari says the appetite from fans is very healthy.
"The numbers and the figures are very impressive for us. We sold around 900, 000 tickets until now. We are welcoming them to come and cheer for their team, be with us, enjoy the time in Qatar and have a great journey."
Qatar has pledged to donate the revenue from ticket sales to support Palestinians through medical and food aid in Gaza.
Emeritus Professor David Rowe at Western Sydney University researches the intersection between sport, politics and culture.
He says wealthy countries in the Middle East - including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - are emerging as new forces in global sport.
"The playing of major sports events in the Middle East is becoming normalised in some ways. Consider more broadly what is going on in the field of sports. Not just Qatar, which after this event, will be hosting (a) qualifying* (event for) under-23 (football) tournament for the Paris Olympics later this year. We've also got Saudi Arabia making huge inroads in global sport, not just in football. Although it will be hosting the 2034 FIFA World Cup. Interestingly, the only other contender for host was Australia, which didn't even bother to apply because I think it realised it had very little chance.
"If you look at Saudi Arabia, it has enormous investment in football in its own league, involvement in the English Premier League Football, LIV Golf. There is talk of a rival to the Australian Open in some ways. Quite possibly. That it will offer an awful lot of money to take the Grand Slam away from Australia. Or certainly attract a number of players for its pre-tournament."
Human rights concerns and boycotts were front and centre during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, including the issue of migrant worker deaths during the construction of the stadiums - at an estimated cost of $9.7 billion (Australian) dollars.
Qatar World Cup chief Hassan Al-Thawadi admitted during the 2022 event that between 400 and 500 migrant workers died as a result of work done on projects connected to the tournament.
A Guardian analysis of data from government sources found at least 6,500 migrant workers died in Qatar in the nine years until 2020, while the stadiums were built.
The workers were from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
More than a year after the World Cup, Human Rights Watch says there has been no redress for the underpayment and deaths of migrant workers who built the stadiums, which are now being used for the Asian Cup.
Dr Steve Georgakis, senior lecturer on sports studies at the University of Sydney, says one reason why there has been less mention of those issues with this event is due to the narrower geographical focus of the tournament.
"Most of the nations that objected to the Qatari human rights were countries from the advanced western economies - most of the European countries, the US and a few other nations. This is the Asian Football Confederation. And the most powerful block is actually Middle Eastern countries themselves. So that is why we haven't heard too much."
He says the war in Gaza does loom over the event and region, and for Qatar - it is being seen as a peacebroker in the conflict, having mediated deals for a temporary ceasefire, hostage exchange and aid.
The conflict has meant there's been less attention with the Asian Cup on what's happened to migrant workers.
Georgakis says untangling sports and politics can be tricky.
"You can't really separate the human rights stuff from global sporting events. But the more that they invest in sport, the more powerful they become in controlling world sports, such as a business. And so fewer and fewer people will ask questions about the human rights. But on the flipside, this could be an attempt by Middle Eastern countries to come into the world fold and become a globalised community."
Professor David Rowe says the term sportswashing has been used in the past in reference to oppressive governments using sporting events to legitimise themselves and overshadow their human rights abuses.
But he says it is better to think of it more broadly as sports diplomacy - the strategic use of sports as a political tool to project a nation's global image.
"Sportswashing - it's a term that has been handled with care. First, pretty much all countries use it to a greater or lesser extent. And secondly, I think we have to be careful that we don't underplay the economic issues here. So we're talking about petrostates, large and resource-based rich nations in the Middle East that realise of course that the fossil fuel future isn't looking so great. So how else are they going to make money? Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE - they all have as part of their economic planning, a move away from fossil fuels into entertainment, information, sport and so on."
He says the Asian Cup does come under the governance of FIFA, which released its first human rights policy in 2017. That document commits the organisation to protect human rights and remedy failures when they occur, in accordance with the United Nations’ Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
Dr Tom Heenan at Monash University researches - and teaches - the topics of sports and culture.
He says he has noticed less attention on human rights concerns in Qatar with the Asian Cup versus the World Cup in 2022 - and that is a concern.
"It raises questions really about how serious we do take human rights issues when it comes to sport - when we ignore things like an Asian Cup, but we'll really raise them when there's a World Cup."
He says athletes are already speaking out about human rights concerns - including the Socceroos who released a video in the lead-up to the World Cup in Qatar, raising concerns about the treatment of migrant workers, and the criminalisation of LGBTIQ+ people in Qatar.
Heenan says there is a role for consumers and sports fans to consider these issues, which will help improve the accountability and governance in sports.
"The players themselves have stepped in here - and have led the way in this. I think as a country, we consume sport. We don't think of the political aspects behind it. We don't look at what is occurring in other countries - and the issues that may compromise our viewing of that sporting event. We choose it just as a product we consume. And we have to be more aware as with other products - what's involved in the making of the product."
