Why the World Cup Belongs in the Middle East

 

"There was some merit to the complaints: Searing July temperatures would make a summer tournament impossible, and it’s true that the national team has never previously qualified for the World Cup. But some of the backlash seemed to be rooted in false cultural assumptions about Qatar and the Middle East more broadly, including a belief that the region lacked a history of football. When the tournament opens on Sunday, it will mark the first time that the Arab world, with its population of more than 440 million people, has hosted the World Cup since it began in 1930. Nonetheless, the region has a century-long history with the beautiful game.

The story of Arab football — like so much in the region — is tied up in the history of colonialism and the struggle against it. "

read article by Abdullah Al-Arian