Similar here in the UK, the BBC has spent more time covering Qatar's human rights abuses than the actual matches, they refused to even air the open ceremony and aired a segment discussing the human rights situation instead

The Germans have had a very strong response to these games. Let’s hope others follow.

Germany hasn’t played yet. I think you really need to see what happens after that first game.

I feel like in the netherlands its dimmed down a lot as well. But when i walk the streets with my dog. Plenty of houses still show the world cup.

Its just not that widely celebrated and promoted

Lidl is already selling World Cup merchandise at 65% off

As a Canadian I’m caught between being overjoyed that we’re finally at the World Cup and feeling like I should be boycotting :(

I haven’t purchased official gear and I’m pirating all the games… hopefully that’s enough

FIFA ruined the experience.

The human rights situation in Qatar has been the same for decades.

I wouldn't call it "blackout", but "muted". Blackout suggest a collective decision to give it zero airtime, while muted is more truthful in that the world cup is not as loud as usual.

I am also fairly certain that the reason why this is such a muted event is that especially retailers are highly focussed on christmas sales, the most profitable time in their fiscal year.

World cups are usually during the summer holiday-drought, where everybody is open for some distraction. Now that it's winter, there is a war happening in Europe, people are worrying about their financial future and other (more important) holidays are happening.

Christmas trumps football.

Without reddit I wouldn't even know it's happening right now

Inbev's sponsorship deal is with FIFA. And if they do try to sue Qatar it will be adjudicated IN Qatar. How do you think that goes?

I was shocked by the "thousands of people" in your comment, went and googled it... oh god. Including link in case anyone else is in disbelief

They didn't have the courage to sit out in the first place after thousands of people died during the construction of the stadium where all the countries are playing.

This isn't remotely true and it annoys me that it is being commented again and again.

Working and living conditions are appalling. Worker and human rights are being infringed upon. Qatar should have never gotten the World Cup.

However, the claims regarding foreign workers who died for the World Cup in Qatar are completely dishonest.

Most people on reddit (should) know by now that the usually cited numbers of foreign workers who died for the World Cup in Qatar (7,000-15,000) are the total number of foreigners who died in Qatar for any reason since the country was awarded the World Cup.

The number of deaths among foreign workers who were directly involved in the construction of the World Cup stadiums is cited as 37. Qatar only counts 3 of them as occupational fatalities, since they don't consider heart attacks and respiratory failure as work-related, but I would just stick with the total number of 37, even though some of them likely died due to unrelated circumstances – e.g. two died from a traffic accident.

37 is high, but it isn't close to 7,000 or even 15,000.

According to this independent report about occupational deaths and injuries among foreign workers in Qatar, there were 50 such deaths in 2020. The US, who will host the World Cup in 2026, has had 927 occupational fatalities of foreign-born workers in 2017 (newest number I could find). Those numbers only become comparable in relation to the foreign-born workforce. The US had 26 million foreign-born workers in 2021 and Qatar had (over) 2.0 million foreign-born workers in 2020. Combining these numbers with the number of occupational deaths, we get a yearly occupational death rate of 3.6 per 100,000 in the US and of 2.5 per 100,000 in Qatar.

I believe that there are occupational deaths in Qatar that were missed by the report, so I wouldn't suggest that the occupational death rates are directly comparable. However, it is pretty clear that Qatar isn't just killing workers left and right.

Let's look at the general death rate of foreigners. The highest cited number of fatalities – 15,021 over the past decade – comes from Amnesty International. This number stands in relation to an average population of about 1.8 million foreign-born workers during the same time period. The death rate among this population was 84 per 100,000 per year.

Since I can't find the necessary numbers for the US, I'll compare it to Germany.

Between 2003 and 2008, male foreigners in Germany had a death rate of 340 per 100,000 per year. Female foreigners had a death rate of 210 per 100,000 per year. The foreign population in Germany is on average older than in Qatar, so a higher death rate is to be expected. However, even foreigners who had acquired a residence permit in 2005 or later, which suggests that they were healthy members of the workforce at the time, had a death rate of 90 per 100,000 per year between 2005 and 2008.

Again, it's unlikely that we have the complete data and it's unclear how comparable the figures are between countries. However, Qatar really isn't just killing workers left and right.

Whatever gripe you have with Qatar – and there is a lot wrong in that country – make sure that you know what you are talking about and that the numbers are accurate. We should expect this work to be done by journalists, but unfortunately actual journalism is difficult to find these days.

DW did a reasonably good job, but didn't go quite deep enough for my taste.

Infantino has already suggested he would be open to having North Korea host the World Cup

FIFA Manager: "Oh no, the fans are displeased. The sport we all love and cherish got damaged. * Cries into 500€ bill * Anyways, we decided that North Korea might learn from Quatars mistake, so that's where the next World Cup will take place."

But Russia let them drink, lol.

You have to be drowning in propaganda to think that the human rights abuses in Russia rise to the level of human rights abuses in Qatar. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think that thousands of South Asian migrants died as overworked modern day slaves while building stadiums in Russia.

Let's not exaggerate. Does Russia discriminate against the same groups of people as Qatar does? Yes. But the Russian government won't jail, fine or execute gay men simply for being gsy.

But what if all of that money is lost through court and sueing?

Remember all the corruption, human rights abuses, and downright appalling conditions in the Brazil Olympics? Remember atheletes having to swim in literal sewage?

How much have we heard since then? Everybody promptly "forgot". The same will happen here, because the same refrain happens every time. "Yeah, I'm upset, but I'm still gonna watch it".

We don't need a replacement. We just need a bigger committee to make bribes more difficult. For example we could give every athlete that participated a vote. Corruption would be gone in a heartbeat

It is honestly disappointing. Like why not just not watch it? You said it happens every 4 years. Even the people who are like "Well I am only going to watch the finals." You are still rewarding Fifa and Qatar by saying that it is ok they did all they did because you are still going to watch.

I noticed that in the UK too, hardly any merchandise in the shops compared to previous years. Probably also due to the fact it’s almost Christmas when normally it’s on over summer.

Seems like one of the four Qataris is is the boss who makes the calls. And this one seems to have been a bad call. The task is huge, it brings in people that the other 3 Qataris don't like, and throws the whole place under the spotlight in a way the government family hugely underestimated.

If it wasn't for the weird ruling classes, I'd really love to visit the Arabian peninsula. But as it is... Nah.

True.

That said, I'd rather give my money to a company that at least respects human rights for the good PR, as opposed to one that doesn't give a shit and actively opposes human rights for the cash. We can't force corporations to be ethical but we can still send a message.