The World Cup kicked off, "small countries" stepped onto the "big stage", and Qatar "rose" again?

On the 20th local time, the 2022 Qatar World Cup officially kicked off. Amid cheers and doubts, this slightly mysterious Middle Eastern country managed to attract global attention. From the shadows of the Middle East to the big stage of international sports, Qatar's ambitions may be much more than that.

"Small countries" and "big stages"

In 2010, a small, inconspicuous Arab country shocked the world by accidentally defeating its biggest rival, the United States, to win the right to host the 2022 World Cup. Without football traditions, unsuitable climate and weak market influence, Qatar hardly has any elements of a World Cup host country, only strong financial resources.

Before that, Qatar's business cards had these keywords: land of projectiles, Middle Eastern tycoons, natural gas, Al Jazeera.

Qatar covers an area of only 11,500 square kilometers, less than the size of two Shanghais, and many fans can't even find Qatar's location on the map.

Qatar has a population of just 330,000, too few to fill the eight stadiums of this World Cup. But the vast wealth has attracted more than 2 million expatriates from around the world, enough to support the huge construction projects needed for the event.

As one of the countries with the highest per capita GDP in the world, Qatar did not hesitate to invest 220 billion US dollars to host the World Cup, which can be described as the most expensive in the history of the event.

In addition to building stadiums, hotels, airports, subways and other facilities, Qatar has even built container hotels for ordinary fans, with a daily price of about $160.

Of course, under the huge noise of the opening ceremony, it is still difficult to hide the controversy over the Qatar World Cup.

Due to the high temperature for a long time, especially from April to September, the maximum temperature can reach 50 degrees Celsius, which is the first time that the World Cup has been held in winter.

As the first World Cup held in an Arab country in history, due to religious customs and other reasons, Qatar has a series of rules on the relationship between men and women and drinking, which has led many fans to boycott Qatar.

The BBC said that the "bribery" scandal in the bidding stage and the "labor abuse" scandal in the preparation process made Qatar "look very special on the international football stage."

Shadows with highlights

After declaring independence in 1971, Qatar in the Persian Gulf has rapidly developed into an economically powerful energy country with abundant oil and gas resources, with a per capita GDP of more than $60,000 in 2021.

However, in the Gulf region, where "water is more expensive than oil and per capita is rich", Qatar is not a shining pearl, but more like a small boat floating in the regional undercurrent.

First, Qatar doesn't have much room for debate in the energy sector.

Compared with oil, Qatar's natural gas resource advantages are more prominent. In 2019, due to lack of voice, Qatar announced its withdrawal from OPEC, becoming the first Middle Eastern country to withdraw from the organization. Previously, Qatar's crude oil production ranked only 11th among OPEC countries, accounting for less than 2% of total OPEC crude oil production.

Second, Qatar's own defense is weak and dependent on major powers.

In the 90s of last century, the Gulf War broke out in order to compete for oil resources. In order to seek security, Qatar, which lacks its own defense strength, has established a close alliance with the United States, and the two sides have begun military cooperation. Today, Qatar's Udaided Air Base is the largest U.S. military base in the Middle East and is also known as the "easily overlooked center of power."

Some think tanks have analyzed that Qatar's soft power construction has not kept pace with its economic development. Despite its high-rise skyscrapers, Doha still has too much space compared to other wealthy metropolises such as Dubai and Singapore.

In addition, a "severance of diplomatic relations" in 2017 left Qatar isolated and plunged the Middle East into the worst diplomatic crisis in recent years.

However, after years of turmoil in the Middle East, Qatar, long in the shadows of the region, is enjoying its highlight with the World Cup.

At the time of the bid, Qatar proposed to build the World Cup into a symbol of solidarity and cooperation among Arab countries, and appointed Prince Mohammed Al-Thani as the chairman of the bid committee, demonstrating its determination to host it as a nation.

According to reports, compared with the construction of venues, Qatar has also invested a lot of financial resources in infrastructure construction, including the expansion of Hamad Airport, the construction of multiple subway lines, and the construction of Lusail New City.

In addition, the World Cup is also considered a big window for Qatar to enhance its cultural influence.

Challenges and opportunities

The analysis believes that the World Cup, as a world-renowned sports event, highlights Qatar's political ambitions. This ambition will bring more international attention to Qatar, but also dissatisfaction from players in other regions.

"They know there's a potential threat, and they know they're vulnerable." Gerd Nonneman, a professor of Gulf Arab studies at Georgetown University, said Qatar was reluctant to pass up any opportunity to connect with the international community amid regional tensions, and "they needed an element that resonated."

Analysts pointed out that Qatar's relationship with neighboring Saudi Arabia will affect the internal team of Arab countries. In recent years, Qatar has made continuous efforts in the fields of economy, transportation, diplomacy and culture, and has become a force in the Middle East that cannot be ignored. Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, wants to win over Gulf Arab states, including Qatar, to deal with Iran, and "there is a rift between the two."

However, there are signs that "Doha's diplomatic tentacles are reaching out globally".

Some analysts believe that thanks to abundant natural gas resources, Qatar may become one of the biggest beneficiaries of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.

Qatar has the third largest proven natural gas reserves in the world, after Russia and Iran, and is now the world's largest supplier of liquefied natural gas. After announcing its withdrawal from OPEC, Qatar focused on developing the natural gas industry. The "Nord Stream-1" pipeline was bombed, Russian gas exports were blocked, and some European countries turned their attention to Doha.

In addition, compared with other Middle Eastern countries, Qatar, which has a constitutional monarchy, has a more stable political situation and a relatively neutral position in diplomacy, which also makes it a source of success.

After the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan last year, Qatar became a bridge between the Taliban and the world, accused of being interested in acting as "the new arbiter of the Arab world."

Even US President Joe Biden has said that Qatar is a "reliable partner" of the United States and has given Qatar the status of an "important non-NATO ally." Qatar's importance is all the more important in the context of rising tensions between the United States and Saudi Arabia.

Kristian Ulrichsen, a researcher at the Baker Institute at Rice University in the United States, believes that Qatar is once again at the center of the international stage, which will give them more voice.

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Column editor-in-chief: Yang Liqun Text editor: Yang Liqun Title image source: IC PHOTO Photo editor: Xu Jiamin

Source: Author: Yang Ying