World Cup In Qatar Research Articles

Extreme Heat Considerations in International Football Venues: The Utility of Climatologic Data in Decision Making.

Exposure to severe heat can have detrimental effects on athletic performance and increase the risk of exertional heat injuries. Therefore, proactive assessment of the environmental characteristics of international football match venues becomes critical in ensuring the safety and optimal performance of the athletes. To propose the use of climatologic data (modeled wet-bulb globe temperature [WBGT]) in making athletic-event management decisions for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games and the 2022 Fédération Internationale de Football Association World Cup. Descriptive study. Hourly meteorologic input data for a WBGT model were obtained from the second Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications for Japan (Yokohama and Saitama) and Qatar (Doha and Al-Daayen). The pattern of hourly WBGT and percentage of hours between 30°C and 32°C and exceeding 32°C WBGT during the expected competition periods for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Japan and the scheduled (November, December) and traditional (June, July) periods of the World Cup games in Qatar. The WBGT during the 2020 Olympic football tournament in Japan may exceed 30°C in 40% to 50% of the late mornings and early afternoons. The shift in tournament timing for the 2022 Fédération Internationale de Football Association World Cup in Qatar from the summer to late fall will reduce the exposure to ≥30°C WBGT to null. Directors of mass sporting events should consider using climatologic data in their organizational decision making to assess the potential heat illness risk and to implement risk-mitigation plans.

Examining the cross-cultural attitudes of Qataris and expatriates in Qatar, the host country of 2022 World Cup

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how residents in Qatar, the host country of the 2022 World Cup, interact, socialize and acculturate in order to create a more harmonic society, a critical factor for the event delivery and preparations. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from Qatari nationals and expatriates residing in the country of Qatar using a survey. A stratified random sampling approach was applied using as sampling framework all households having a mailing address with the country’s electric company. In total, 2,398 Qataris were contacted and 1,020 completed the survey. From the expatriate population, 1,852 were contacted and 1,134 completed the survey. Findings The results showed Qatari nationals were favorable toward Arab and Asian expatriates but not as favorable as Arab and Asian expatriates were toward them. Both groups of residents showed high quality of life (QOL) perceptions, with the locals having slightly higher QOL. Finally, Asian expatriates were more open to socializing with the locals and Arab expatriates. Research limitations/implications The results of the study shed light into the acculturation process in host societies of mega sport events such as the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Originality/value This is the first study that examined a mega event’s host country resident’s cultural interactions to identify potential issues that can arise and interfere with the event experience of the 2022 World Cup in a very diverse society.

Exploring the determinants of 2022 FIFA World Cup attendance in Qatar

This study investigates the determinants of attendance at the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Qatar. It considers pull and push factors as antecedents of desirability to attend this mega-event, and particularly sheds light on the perception of the host country as a pull factor. Data from 228 potential visitors were collected. Consistent with previous research, results show that the factors of passion, novelty and escape have positive impacts on desirability. The perception of the host country has a positive impact on desirability and is a better predictor than travel motives or event motives. No significant effect of the support for the national team on desirability was found. The results additionally show that the constraints of time or money have no impact on the relationship between desirability and attendance intent. The findings of this research offer insights into sport marketing and show promise for event management committees, event marketers and researchers alike to develop an understanding of mega-event marketing.

Football in the hands of the other: Qatar's World Cup in the British broadsheet press

Using reportage of the 2022 World Cup taken from The Telegraph and The Guardian, this paper demonstrates how Bhaba's ‘dynamics of writing and textuality’ are implemented to represent an Orientalist discourse that describes Qatar in colonial terms. Citing work by cultural critics such as Edward Said and Stuart Hall, it is argued that the British media constructs such a discourse to re-assert a form of colonial dominance which has historically greatly benefitted the former. Adapting theoretical frameworks on ‘grammars of exchange’ by Said and on mimicry by Homi Bhaba, it is contended that the British media's dominance allows it to replicate the process of knowledge formation that enabled colonial discourse to thrive throughout the 19th century, and that Qatar's success in mimicking many of the cultural attributes of the West has transformed it into a viable threat which must be controlled. The paper concludes by arguing that the cultural narrative of Qatar conveyed to global audiences by the British media i...

Exploring the determinants of 2022 FIFA World Cup attendance in Qatar

This study investigates the determinants of attendance at the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Qatar. It considers pull and push factors as antecedents of desirability to attend this mega-event, and particularly sheds light on the perception of the host country as a pull factor. Data from 228 potential visitors were collected. Consistent with previous research, results show that the factors of passion, novelty and escape have positive impacts on desirability. The perception of the host country has a positive impact on desirability and is a better predictor than travel motives or event motives. No significant effect of the support for the national team on desirability was found. The results additionally show that the constraints of time or money have no impact on the relationship between desirability and attendance intent. The findings of this research offer insights into sport marketing and show promise for event management committees, event marketers and researchers alike to develop an understanding of mega-event marketing.

Weather Conditions, Travel Distance, Rest, and Running Performance: The 2014 FIFA World Cup and Implications for the Future

The awarding of the hosting of the Football World Cup to Russia and Qatar initiated discussions about temperature and travel distances related to the game. This study examines the effect of weather conditions, travel distances, and rest days—three factors potentially causing fatigue—on running performance using player-level and teamlevel data from the 2014 World Cup. The results show that the heat index (combining temperature and humidity) significantly decreased running performance (number of sprints, high-intensity running), while a clear sky was positively associated with distance covered at high intensity. Travel distance and rest were insignificant. When these models are used to predict running performance at the 2022 Qatar World Cup, the projections show that the combination of heat and wind could hinder the performance of both players and teams and create potentially dangerous conditions. The present study has implications for policy makers regarding the choice of future host countries.

Leveraging the World Cup: Mega Sporting Events, Human Rights Risk, and Worker Welfare Reform in Qatar

Qatar will realize its decades-long drive to host a mega sporting event when, in 2022, the opening ceremony of the Fέdέration Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup commences. By that time, the Qatari government will have invested at least $200 billion in real estate and development projects, employing anywhere between 500,000 and 1.5 million foreign workers to do so. The scale of these preparations is staggering — and not necessarily positive. Between 2010 and 2013, more than 1,200 labor migrants working in Qatar's construction sector died, with another 4,000 deaths projected by the start of the event. Foreign workers are subject to conditions of forced labor, human trafficking, and indefinite detention. Advocacy groups cite deplorable living and working conditions, coupled with lax legal protections for workers, as the main culprits. Absent significant improvements in worker welfare, Qatar's World Cup will be remembered as a human rights tragedy. This article examines whether it is possible for Qatar's World Cup to forge a different legacy, as an agent of change on behalf of worker welfare reform. In examining the issue, the article takes a two-fold approach. First, it locates the policy problem of worker welfare abuses in the context of the migration life cycle. The migration life cycle represents the range of activities that mediate the relationship between an individual migrant and the labor migration system — from the time the migrant first considers working overseas to his employment abroad to his eventual return to the home country. An understanding of worker welfare abuses in Qatar does not begin or end with reports of migrant deaths. A much broader pattern of abuse exists that, if ignored, will undermine effective policy responses. Second, the article frames worker welfare as a matter that lies at the intersection of business and human rights. Mega events are large-scale, internationally recognized activities that aim to promote regional development and to advance universal values and principles. They also represent an important collaboration between stakeholders across sectors. The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, therefore, offer a framework for understanding how worker welfare reform might be in the interests of governmental and corporate actors alike. Ultimately, this paper outlines four policy proposals that may be undertaken by countries of origin, nongovernmental organizations, international organizations, and Qatari employers: (1) the development of a list of labor-supply agencies committed to ethical recruitment practices; (2) the devising of low-interest, preferential loans for migrants considering employment in Qatar; (3) the establishment of a resource center to serve as a one-stop shop for migrant information and services; and (4) the creation of training programs to aid migrants upon their return home. These options are not meant to diminish the role of the Qatari government in reform efforts, and indeed, the state can — and should — take steps to improve worker welfare, including strengthening worker welfare standards, closing labor law loopholes, and bolstering law enforcement capacity. But these measures are not enough. Therefore, the above four policy proposals put forward a process-specific, rather than actor-specific, approach to reform aimed at capitalizing on the spotlight of the World Cup to bring about lasting, positive change in Qatar's migrant labor practices.

Qatar World Cup 2022: Awareness of the Event and its Impact on Destination and Country Character Perceptions in the US Tourism Market

This study examined how awareness levels of hosting the 2022 World Cup in Qatar changed perceptions of Qatar's destination image, country character, and neighboring destinations' images. Data were collected through Amazon Mechanical Turk, an online consumer panel comprised of people residing in the US with an Amazon. com account and willing to participate in the surveys. The results revealed that higher awareness of the 2022 World Cup being hosted in Qatar improved host destination image perceptions, selective regional country perceptions, country character and relevant behaviors to either travel to Qatar for vacation, for interest to travel to attend the event, or to watch the event on TV. Implications involve strategies to create higher awareness for the destination using the mega-sport event platform for promotions.

Football in Arabic literature in diaspora: Global influences and local manifestations

This paper explores how Arab writers in diaspora present football in their literary works. Through an examination of Rabih Alameddine’s I, the Divine, Laila Lalami’s Secret Son and Leila Aboulela’s Lyrics Alley, the paper highlights the way in which Arab novelists in diaspora draw on the game’s international popularity to supplement and clarify the themes that these novels explore. Specifically, this paper investigates how the three novels portray the relationship between the individual and the nation and it suggests that these novels may be read within a context of a growing Arab involvement in international football over the past few years, including recent investments by state members of the Gulf Cooperation Council in European football, the emergence of international football superstars of Arab descent, the direct and indirect influences of football on recent socioeconomic and political transformations in Arab countries, including the Arab Spring, and FIFA’s controversial decision to stage the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Thanks to their position between cultures, these writers render football as a site on which socioeconomic, political and cultural discourses converge. By depicting the quotidian experiences of culturally and ethnically varied characters, the novels offer divergent perspectives on the game’s entanglement with global and local influences and football emerges as a central issue around which the above writers construct some of the most important episodes in the three novels. In this way the three novels demonstrate that the game’s international popularity makes it intricately linked with the daily experiences of the characters they depict.

2022 Qatar World Cup: Impact Perceptions among Qatar Residents

The purpose of this study was to evaluate how the impacts from the 2022 World Cup preparations in Qatar influenced local residents’ attitudes, personal and community quality of life perceptions, excitement about hosting the event, and support toward the event. The examination of the way mega sport event impacts influence residents’ perceptions of personal and community quality of life is lacking in the literature. Data were collected using systematic sampling in October 2014 from Qatari nationals and white-collar expatriates. Overall, 2,163 interviews with Qatari nationals (1,058) and white-collar expatriates (1,105) were completed. The results revealed that eight years before the event, sociocultural impacts were the most influential type of impact for residents’ attitudes toward the event, community and personal quality of life, excitement about the event, and support of the FIFA decision to host the event in Qatar.

Business legacy planning for mega events: The case of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar

This study aimed to explore the processes of business networking which lays the foundation for business legacy outcomes initiated by the award of a mega event in a region. Building on the work of Spilling (1996) on mega event business impacts, we interviewed 24 stakeholders in Qatar from sport organizations about business planning and impacts of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Qualitative data analysis revealed a process that involved a relationship between certain factors. For example, country context factors included political, religious and cultural elements. These country context factors can create business drivers and barriers that lead to sustainable business networking event legacy outcomes. Drivers and barriers included networking complexity factors, speed of internationalization, and country constraints. Targeted sustainable business networking legacy outcomes involved cultural change, innovation, social and human capital development and re-positioning of the country in the business world.

To Rise or not: Prospective Africas Outbound Tourism BusinessTrajectory and Mega Sports Events: A Case of Qatar 2022 World Cup

The FIFA World Cup is the major sporting event in the world. It is also the most prestigious mega-sports event since it has over the years been assumed to be a highly profitable and a crowd pulling venture. The event has thus shaken the tourism trends of all the participating nations. By comparing and analyzing the general impact on outbound tourism of previous sporting events including major World cup games; this article will qualitatively reveals Africa as a new market for outbound tourists for major sporting events; this study sampled 2022 Qatar World Cup and provides conclusions on how Africa’s outbound tourism business will be impacted in the long run. Based on the suggestions provided in this paper, future studies should be more oriented on the qualitative studies to establish the exact degree of this effect.

Cyber Security in the Gulf Cooperation Council

The Internet is one of the fastest growing areas of infrastructure development in the union of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf commonly referred to as Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). It is clear that the adoption of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) worldwide has helped to quicken communication and facilitate the exchange of information. The number of Internet users and Internet-enabled technological devices is increasing exponentially, including an estimated 40 million Internet users within the area of the GCC that continues to grow. It considers the fastest growing and most economically competitive region in the world. This growth is largely fuelled by oil although the region is also becoming an increasingly popular destination for local and international tourists. This trend is set to continue with upcoming global events such as the Abu Dhabi and Bahrain Grand Prix, the Expo 2020 in Dubai and the FIFA World Cup in Qatar in 2022.As the Internet grows and reaches most aspects of society, staying up-to-date with effective security measures and ensuring online safety remains a challenge. For example, modern cars are effectively computers, and many of which are connected to the Internet. These computing devices embedded in everyday life bring about new risks. In addition, the cybercrime landscape has evolved considerably over the past decade becoming more sophisticated with an increasing diversification of organizational forms of criminal actors. Failure to understand the impact of cybercrime and the threats pose to economy, national security, and the critical infrastructure; will leave GCC states vulnerable to all cyber-attacks and easy targets. There is now evidence of malicious actors that work alone, within cohesive group structures and as larger ephemeral online communities. In addition, vectors used to perpetrate cyber crime are constantly evolving due in part to innovative tactics of criminals which continues to evolve. Attacks typically occur unbeknown to the victims and through processes that guarantee anonymity to malicious actors. For example, many cyber-attacks are propagated through networks of compromised computers and intermediary systems masking the identity, which in certain cases make it difficult to identify the source and intention of cybercrime. The countries of the GCC share culture, and political, geographic and socio-economic interests. As “communities of shared fate”, all Internet-connected nations are at the mercy of online threats. Yet, mechanisms to respond to such activity have been reactive at best with a deficiency of crime prevention efforts. A major block to the effective control of cyber crime is its transnational characteristic. Cyber attacks occur across borders, and perpetrators and their victims are rarely located in the same jurisdiction. Cyber criminals have also taken advantage of safe haven countries - states that lack Internet crime-related legislation and the capability to enforce them. In 2014, the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) 10 High Level Event in Geneva, co-organised by ITU, UNESCO, UNCTAD and UNDP, highlighted the significant risks posed by insufficient responses to cyber security. As connectivity develops cyber security must be recognised as a major threat for the Middle East.One approach to curtail malicious activities has been through international frameworks. For example, the Council of Europe (CoE) Convention on Cybercrime, known as the Budapest Convention, is an international treaty that provides a comprehensive international approach to cybercrime investigation and law. The Convention formalises mutual legal assistance arrangements between jurisdictions and primarily includes European states, as well as a number of non-European states such as the USA, Japan, Australia and Canada. However, as of March 2015, no countries among the GCC have joined the Convention. Also there is no treaty or cooperation between the GCC states on cybercrime.Among the six GCC countries, Qatar and Oman are the only two to have developed technical, organisational and legal measures to address cybercrime (Table 1). Other countries are working on these measures but still lack capacity to address cyber issues. The following four main recommendations offer some avenues to increase cyber security capacity in the GCC: 1 - Create a national (and regional) cyber awareness initiative 2 - Establish a centralised mechanism to share information, assets and expertise with GCC states and abroad3 - Establish technical standards to combat cyber crime through a national (and regional) framework4 - Engage in international police and judicial cooperation, for example, by signing the Budapest Convention.

Sport events and climate for visitors--the case of FIFA World Cup in Qatar 2022.

The effect of weather on sport events is not well studied. It requires special attention if the event is taking place at a time and place with extreme weather situations. For the world soccer championship in Qatar (Doha 2022), human biometeorological analysis has been performed in order to identify the time of the year that is most suitable in terms of thermal comfort for visitors attending the event. The analysis is based on thermal indices like Physiologically Equivalent Temperature (PET). The results show that this kind of event may be not appropriate for visitors, if it is placed during months with extreme conditions. For Doha, this is the period from May to September, when conditions during a large majority of hours of the day cause strong heat stress for the visitors. A more appropriate time would be the months November to February, when thermally comfortable conditions are much more frequent. The methods applied here can quantify the thermal conditions and show limitations and possibilities for specific events and locations.