Every Dictatorship That Hosted the World Cup

In just a few days, the World Cup will be heading to one of the most repressive countries on earth. A place where freedom of speech is curtailed for the citizens who criticize the regime and is used as an excuse for the elites spewing their propaganda, a place where citizens are summarily arrested and held without due process, and where they are shot at point-blank range if they resist their unlawful arrest.

Furthermore, the media of the country is increasingly pressured to align with the views of the ruling regime, and it feels like I’m writing the introduction to the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Except this time around, the supposed home of freedom and democracy is hosting a tournament where one of the countries that is taking part had its territory recently bombed by the hosts.

This is who we have chosen to host the most prestigious footballing competition on earth? Actually, why am I surprised? Looking at the World Cup’s history, it’s more a dictator’s plaything than the most prestigious pinnacle of football, insert other hyperbole here. And if you still somehow have some semblance of optimism left in your body in the year of our lord 2026, let me ruin that for you by telling you a little story about the various World Cup hosts that are, let’s just say, not so nice to their own people, or others, for that matter.

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