Skip to footer

A World Cup to melt Middle East tensions

The head of global soccer hints at Israel and an Arab state hosting the 2030 football matches, transcending “every notion of negativity.”

|
AP
At an Oct. 9 qualifying match for the 2022 World Cup, Israel's goalkeeper gathers the ball under pressure from a player from Scotland.
  • By the Monitor's Editorial Board

The head of world soccer’s governing body was in Israel this week – the first visit by a FIFA leader – and hinted at the possibility of Israel co-hosting the 2030 World Cup with the United Arab Emirates or other Arab states. “Why not Israel?” said Gianni Infantino, president of FIFA. “The World Cup is magical in that it brings people together, is such a uniting event, and transcends every notion of negativity.”

His idea builds on last year’s Abraham Accords, which saw four Arab states, including the UAE, sign deals to normalize ties with Israel. In particular, the UAE and Israel are racing to find areas of cooperation, from water technology to religious coexistence. This diplomatic momentum even led Saudi Arabia, which did not sign the accords, to hold a video conference this month with Israel’s sports minister to discuss cooperation. Saudi Arabia has its eye on hosting global football’s quadrennial event in 2030.

The 2026 World Cup will be hosted by three neighboring countries – Canada, Mexico, and the United States – so the idea of Middle East nations sharing the responsibility is not far-fetched. The host of the 2022 World Cup, Qatar, is welcoming Israelis to attend matches in the Gulf state. “We do not mix sport and politics, but we would hope that Palestinians are able to make it too,” said a Qatari official in 2019.

Hosting a mega-sporting event like the World Cup or the Olympics is often driven by nationalism. It is used to gain international prestige and display dominance. In the competitions themselves, players from Arab nations or Iran have sometimes snubbed Israeli players. The notion of Israel and an Arab state cooperating to host the World Cup would help turn sports into a platform to melt stereotypes and build bridges of trust. Instead of seeing sports as simply “war by other means,” sports could be a means of peace.

In the hot spots of the world like the Middle East, sharing a sporting event can be a welcome icebreaker between peoples.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to A World Cup to melt Middle East tensions
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2021/1013/A-World-Cup-to-melt-Middle-East-tensions
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe