by João Sena
12 years ago no one understood, or did not want to understand, how the 2022 World Cup ended up in the hands of some sheikhs from a tiny country in the Middle East. Some press, mainly French – later it would be known why – questioned the choice and gave clues, but no one gave much importance to yet another behind-the-scenes maneuver by Joseph Blatter (then FIFA president) and his acolytes. As time went by, accusations of corruption, unworthy working conditions and human rights violations increased. Someone woke up to life and realized that it was politically correct to question everything and everyone and Qatar 2022 came to be seen as the worst World Championship. The authorities in Portugal followed suit and – as Nascer do SOL learned from an official source – the country will end up on Qatar’s blacklist as soon as the World Cup ends, which could have political and economic consequences and affect the circulation of people between the two countries. The statements by the President of the Republic on human rights made at a conference in Doha, on the sidelines of the game between Portugal and Ghana, although they were milder, did not go down well with the Qatari Government, which had already considered the previous declarations of Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and Prime Minister António Costa. Incidentally, the Portuguese ambassador in Doha, Paulo Pocinho, was immediately summoned to the deputy prime minister of Qatar.
Read the full article in the print edition of Nascer do Sol, this Saturday on newsstands
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