William Cook

What will be the legacy of the Qatar World Cup?

(Photo: Getty)

In the glitzy Fifa museum, in squeaky-clean downtown Zurich, there is a new exhibition which sums up the upbeat, inclusive image which football’s world governing body is so eager to portray. It’s called ‘211 Cultures – One Game’, and it consists of 211 items of football ephemera, one from each of Fifa’s member associations all around the world.

Most of these items are fairly anodyne: trophies, fan regalia, football shirts and suchlike – curios you tend to find in any sports museum. A few are items of genuine historical interest: the Spanish contribution is a table football set, invented during the Spanish Civil War by a Spaniard called Alejandro Finisterre, after a bomb blast in Madrid left him lame and unable to play the game he loved.

The English FA have donated a pair of Trent Alexander-Arnold’s football boots, which he wore in Liverpool’s first match after those pesky Covid restrictions were lifted. The boots are emblazoned with the slogan Black Lives Matter.

Whatever Fifa or the Qataris might prefer, the wider world has always had a nasty habit of intruding on the field of play

‘Tonight, my boots will carry the message Black Lives Matter,’ said Alexander-Arnold at the time. ‘The system is broken, it’s stacked against sections of our society, and we all have a responsibility to fix it.’ Alexander-Arnold, one of the world’s best full-backs, is part of the 26-man England squad which has travelled to Qatar for the World Cup.

Regardless of what you think about Alexander-Arnold’s stance, the inclusion of these football boots encapsulates an awkward paradox at the heart of this museum – and the whole Fifa project, for that matter. During the World Cup in Qatar, as in various previous World Cups, we punters will be implored to stop asking impertinent questions about the world beyond the touchline and simply focus on the football.

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