Fifa’s 2022 plan for Qatar ‘would worsen’ Gulf tension
Analysts say proposal to expand number of teams and host countries will do little to advance Middle East peace
Doha — Fifa president Gianni Infantino’s plan to expand the Qatar World Cup to 48 teams and increase the number of host countries risks worsening existing Gulf diplomatic tensions, analysts claim. The ambitious expansion proposal — which Infantino has optimistically stated might help peace in the Middle East — could see the additional matches hosted in Kuwait and Oman in 2022. But far from making a politically turbulent region more harmonious, analysts say Fifa’s proposal could deepen regional fissures and leave Kuwait and Oman, as well as Qatar, open to further political arm-twisting from the regional power bloc of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain. “There is a very real risk that expanding the World Cup to include Kuwait and Oman would make these two countries vulnerable to the same sort of regional pressure Qatar has faced since 2017,” said Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, a research fellow at Rice University. “Particularly since Kuwait and Oman also have followe...
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