It’s an offer that will make any football fan stop and read. Free flights to the World Cup. Free tickets to the matches. Free accommodation during the tournament and even a bit of money to spend. How about that?
But the offer comes with some conditions, of course!
Fans who accept the trip – fully funded by Qatar, the host country of this year’s World Cup – must sign contracts that, in addition to requiring them to attend the opening ceremony of the tournament, prevent them from criticizing Qatar and, most controversially, suggest that they report social media posts made by other fans critical of the country.
Despite the rules, hundreds of fans have already signed up.
Invitations were sent out at the end of September and targeted some of the most well-connected and well-known fan leaders supporting the 32 teams going to the World Cup.
Fans from all FIFA confederations accepted the offer; dozens have already traveled to Qatar at least once for luxurious pre-World Cup visits.
Representatives from the Qatar World Cup organizing committee, the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, downplayed the explicit and implicit requirements in the offer. “There is no obligation to promote or do anything,” said Ahsan Mansoor, director of fan engagement for the 2022 World Cup, in an interview.
The World Cup organizers defend the offer and consider it nothing more than an acknowledgment of the time these fans have given to help Qatar understand and prepare for an unprecedented foreign influx in its history.