Newcastle United And Qatar 2022: Understanding Soccer’s Eastern Shift

The scales are slowly starting to fall from European eyes believes Professor Simon Chadwick.

A continent that has always seen itself as soccer’s heartland is beginning to realize that, while historic power is one thing, it doesn’t provide a future-proofed guarantee of control. 

“Europeans no longer rule the world,” he tells me in an exclusive chat about his new report. 

“We’re now increasingly being exposed to countries and organizations from different parts of the world. 

“They have different values, they organize their labor markets in different ways [and] have different political stances on things.”

In 2021, the world of soccer got some pretty stark reminders of the shift east, none more so than Newcastle United being acquired by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund with the view to transforming the North East club into a global power.

But it’s the end of this year, as Emlyon Business School academic points out, that Europe will get the biggest evidence of this changing dynamic when the first winter World Cup takes place in Qatar.

“We’re in the midst of Western audiences having to get used to the fact that the good days are over,” he continues. 

“If you look at the history of the world, you go back before the 18th century, and the reality is the big powers in the world, the major trading [and] political powers weren’t European, they were Asian. 

“Asians would say that the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries were an anomaly. They were an aberration, in reality, Europeans historically have never been rich and powerful. It’s always been Asians. 

“It appears as though the world is reverting to past times and, for Europeans, that feels very uncomfortable.”

The Emlyon Business School scholar is predicting that 2022 will be a crucial year in the world understanding this change and what it means. 

In his new report; ‘2022 and the challenges facing sport’s geopolitical economy’ Professor Chadwick explains that this will be 12 months like no other.

‘Ignorance about globalization’

Soccer, like many parts of European society, has been gradually enveloped by the globalized economy.

Far too often, Professor Chadwick argues, this interconnectivity is ignored in debates about the World Cup in Qatar and human rights.  

“I find it really ironic that the Norwegian national team has been prominent in calling out what’s happening in Qatar [around worker deaths in stadium construction] when the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund, which is the biggest in the world, currently has $10 billion invested [there].  

“The people I’ve spoken to, in Norway, have said, ‘I didn’t know that’. So there is a level of, without wanting to sound too harsh, ignorance. Not just in the West, but I think across the world of just how globalized and interconnected the world actually is.”

Last year, the Norwegian team wore t-shirts with the words “Human Rights – on and off the pitch” during the national anthems before its game against Gibraltar.

Professor Chadwick questions whether a more meaningful target for the team’s energy would be their government.

“I completely acknowledge that [they] have a right to make a personal political statement about what’s happening,” he adds. 

“But what’s your view on the $10 billion a year your own government has invested into Qatar?”

The academic says this selectivity about what issues raise the hackles of the people in European countries follows a particular pattern.

“When it’s beneficial to us. We just accept it.,” he says, “[look at] Newcastle United and Saudi Arabia, Newcastle United fans love it. 

“When it doesn’t suit us we question it. I think Norway is a prime example of that. 

“It suits them to invest in Qatar and make money from [it], nobody’s questioning that in Norway. Yet when it comes to a [soccer] match [it’s different].”

He adds that Norway is not alone in having a lack of introspection when it comes to Qatar.

Germany was another national team to express a human rights message on pregame t-shirts, despite national links to Qatar that deliver economic benefits.

“The brand new Doha metro system that links all of the World Cup venues, German engineering firms were all over that,” explains Professor Chadwick, “so the German economy has benefited as a consequence.”

Who is changing who?

While the direction of travel is undoubtedly eastwards, according to Professor Chadwick, it doesn’t mean that changes are only occurring in the West.

The nature of globalization is that it is multifaceted and the World Cup in Qatar is an example of that, the academic says.

“I spoke to an elderly Qatari guy,” Professor Chadwick continues, “he said, ‘I don’t want the World Cup here.’ I said, ‘why?’ He told me, ‘Well, I don’t want people coming to my country and holding hands in the streets that is against my traditional Islamic values. 

“My values do not do not condone homosexuality, men and women kissing in the streets [or] the consumption of alcohol.’ 

“So in, in many ways, Qatar is the epitome of this juxtaposition between you western values and what we might call Asian or more Eastern values that are set within the context of a changing world.”

What Professor Chadwick is certain of is that 2022 will be regarded as a crucial point in this global transformation.

“This is the culmination of the last 20 years, but it’s also a predictor of the next 20 years,” he adds 

“In essence, what I’m saying is Europe is not in control anymore. I don’t think the West, in general, is in control anymore. 

“Ultimately what we’ll begin to see is that Asian nations and nations in the geographic South will begin to exert more influence and have more power over sports.”