The Qatari organisers made a massive mistake about the rainbow clothing not being allowed in the stadium. If they had let it be and let people in, than maybe they may have just got away with the world audience seeing them in a kind of good light.
Russia’s PR was more savvy and clever.
Edit: If it is confirmed that the FIFA headquarters move to Doha, this will be a huge outcry. FIFA will lose all credibility. I prefer it to be where it is, as Switzerland is known for its neutrality.
… and providing money laundering services to the world’s dictators.
Oh God, I forgot about that. 
Where can FIFA store their money transparently?
So are we …
They have managed to change my personal views of Qatar from the moderately positive to the strongly negative. Any illusions I had about Qatar being somewhat different from some of the other Gulf states because of al-Jazeera etc are gone. They are not trustworthy partners, and FIFA may end up destabilizing itself for having awarded the World Cup to them.
Oh jolly good, been waiting for a thread like this for a long time.
Firstly Fifa aren’t all that’s wrong with football, but I get people giving them the brunt of it considering they’re at the top of the tree…with them practically running football operations. They do have a lot on their plate to cater for in making sure all the major continental tournaments are protected and smoothly carried out from start to end, including AFCON, Asian cup, whatever the North American cup is called etc. and a lot of these have been great (from my memory anyway), I loved watching South Africa, loved watching Rio, I loved watching the Euros in Poland and France.
I think their annual awards and ceremonies and all the other televised individual presentations that they do are brilliant, I couldn’t pick a better way for it to be shown.
Then there are the negatives such as the recent CL final and their response (on UEFA’s behalf) to the atrocities we saw from the French police and aligning themselves with the French authorities…then you have negative B,C,D,E all the way leading to the number 1. Corruption. With power comes corruption and we’ve seen the clearest indications yet in awarding the last 2 world cups to Russia and Qatar & yes all this damages their reputation but more importantly puts a dent in the hearts of the fans love for the game.
Yep, Qatar’s emir is an absolute cunt and a tinpot shitehole like Qatar should never host the WC.
They can’t help but lie the only truth they know is whatever their idiotic rulers, who were camel herders living in the desert until they were shown how to extract hydrocarbons, say.
There’s nothing wrong with camel herding. It’s been sustainably practiced by large sections of humanity for millennia. The problems started with the extraction of minerals.
I was wondering why they had picked a ghost like Qatari dressed mascot.
When I think it’s been an animal for the entirety of its history I believe? And it’s crap and makes me shudder for no particular reason.
They should have gone with a Camel.
It may have ended up looking like the mascot of a certain tobacco manufacturer which wouldn’t have gone down well with anyone. Why the ghost is anyone’s guess, though.
Have you ever gone with a camel? I can’t imagine it’s a pleasant experience.
Is that what the camel told you afterwards 
I suspect the reason they didn’t go with a camel is that they want to eviscerate any references to their herding and tent dwelling past and pretend that recent hydrocarbon extraction means they are suddenly a sophisticated metropolis on par with western democracies. Which is why I brought it up.
There are no camels in Qatar. The ones you see are paid workers in disguises.
This. Ultimately, the players and the fans hold the power. It’s puzzling how conspicuously absent FIFPro have been when it comes to FIFA and UEFA machinations, when it is its members who are primarily affected. When will it respond and act? FIFA has reached the point of openly blackmailing teams and captains, why not issue an ultimatum of its own? Either you let the captains wear the armband or the teams withdraw. See FIFA squirm.
Likewise, we as fans should have boycotted this sham of a World Cup openly and collectively. Mess with their bottom line, the only thing they understand and respect.
At the very least, there needs to be a purge in FIFA and that won’t transpire without external pressure. Infantino and his ilk have to be removed, they are starting to provoke the same levels of contempt and disdain usually reserved for the likes of Trump.
Agreed.
I’m forced to fill my fuel tank with diesel due to a serious lack of ground camel hooves available
Fully agree with this. It was an opportunity missed to put pressure on these cunts, and show them that football nations and players won’t be taken to hostage when it comes to fundamental human values. Instead of this, they folded at the slightest hint of a potential punishment. Not good enough for me.
I’m doing my bit !
Same here. The Swiss team hasn’t yet played, but really, the general atmosphere is as if this thing didn’t exist, which is completely fine for me. No fans zones (the few who wanted to make it retracted after noticing the enthusiasm was rock bottom).
Of course, that does also have to do that we are in November, that it is cold, windy and rainy, and that no-one wants to stay outside with such a weather. But still, hardly anyone speaks about the world cup or the matches, it’s just total indifference. Hopefully it will reflect in the general economic numbers, and that it will make advertisers think hard and long about whether they continue to back a now totally corrupt FIFA with their money.