Para los seguidores del Liverpool como yo, Jordan Henderson era uno de los chicos buenos del fútbol. Fue el capitán del club que recaudó fondos para el Servicio Nacional de Salud del Reino Unido durante la pandemia de covid-19 y apoyó vocalmente a la comunidad LGBTQ+ de Liverpool.
Sin embargo, en julio de 2023, tras 12 años en el Liverpool, Henderson se marchó al Al-Ettifaq, un club de la Pro League de Arabia Saudí, donde las relaciones entre personas del mismo sexo están penalizadas. El salario semanal de Henderson en el Al-Ettifaq es, al parecer, 900 000 dólares, el triple de lo que ganaba en el Liverpool, el cuarto club más rico del mundo.… Seguir leyendo »
In 2010, days after international soccer governing body FIFA awarded the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, the first of many damning op-eds about the country landed on the editorial page of the Guardian. The article—entitled “Let Qatar 2022 not be built on brutality”—was authored by a representative of Human Rights Watch and detailed the exploitive treatment of the migrant laborers who have built stadiums and other tournament infrastructure. Ever since, there have been regular reports of abuses or calls to boycott the World Cup. Now, less than one month before play begins, there is a new flurry of critical stories about Qatar, focused not only on workers’ rights but things like the country’s supposedly fabricated soccer culture.… Seguir leyendo »
In 2019, then-International Ski Federation President Gian Franco Kasper told a German newspaper that the Olympics are “easier in dictatorships”. The honorary International Olympic Committee member was referring to awarding the 2022 Winter Olympics to China. “Dictators can organize events such as this without asking the people’s permission”, Kasper said. He walked back his comments under pressure, but he had already said out loud what many sport federation leaders think in private.
The Beijing Winter Olympics open in a month and the FIFA World Cup kicks off in November in Qatar. With the world’s two biggest sporting events being hosted by major human rights abusers, this year is forcing an overdue reckoning for powerful sports bodies that for years have sidelined their formal commitments to human rights.… Seguir leyendo »
For Formula One fans around the world, the news that world champion Lewis Hamilton has recovered from coronavirus and will be fit to race in Abu Dhabi this weekend will be met with jubilation. F1’s management, on the other hand, might be feeling ambivalent.
Over the course of a season marred by Covid-19, Hamilton’s increasingly firm stance on social justice, sparked by the Black Lives Matter movement, has frequently overshadowed the racing. And last month, before the Bahrain Grand Prix, he made the incendiary claim that F1 has a “consistent and massive problem” with human rights abuses in the places it visits.… Seguir leyendo »
I will never forget the love and support I was greeted with the moment I arrived here on Feb. 12 after spending 76 days in detention in Thailand. The combined international engagement on my case is what gave me my freedom back. I am home now with my wife, and for that we deeply thank all who played a role in my safe return.
What kept me going during these dark 76 days? Knowing that the whole world was witnessing the injustice. Millions of people saw me barefoot and shackled at a hearing in Bangkok, not because I had committed any crime — I had not — but because, I believe, Thailand’s ruling family happened to be tightening its relations with the Khalifas, the family that rules Bahrain, where I was born and which I had represented on its national soccer team.… Seguir leyendo »
On 27 November I landed in Bangkok with my beloved husband, a Bahrain-born professional football player. We were overjoyed to be spending our honeymoon together in the breathtaking country of Thailand. Not only were we celebrating our honeymoon, but it was also my husband’s first time traveling outside of Australia in the five years since he fled there in 2014 from Bahrain and was granted refugee status.
We chose Bangkok for our honeymoon because of all the beauty it had to offer and had planned our visit in detail together. We planned a serene boat ride together to one of the famous floating markets to buy tropical fruits and locally made crafts, and to visit Bangkok’s unique aquarium for its one-of-a-kind ocean experience that we had read about.… Seguir leyendo »
In the 50 days since Hakeem al-Araibi has been held in a Bangkok jail, global events for Olympic sports have continued. The Hockey World Cup and the World Swimming Championships were held and the Handball World Championships, football’s Asian Cup and tennis grand slam the Australian Open have begun. The Winter X Games and Super Bowl will also be under way soon.
Yet one of our fellow Australian athletes, Hakeem al-Araibi, a former international footballer, remains in jail, awaiting the worst fate of any asylum seeker or refugee: extradition back to the country that persecuted him, the country he fled in fear for his life.… Seguir leyendo »
On that glorious night, they stood on their seats for almost the entire game, arms aloft, shouting, cheering, booing and, most of all, singing. Lyrical chants filled the air that chilly November evening. There was a sea of green—their team’s color—on their shirts and on the flags they waved. Artistic graffiti decorated the stadium.
The fans shared an immense love for and loyalty to the Raja Athletic Club of Casablanca (RCA). They sang and sang until the final whistle, savoring every word of songs that expressed the passion in their hearts. Raja was facing AS Vita Club of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the first leg of the CAF Confederation Cup final, one of Africa’s major soccer tournaments.… Seguir leyendo »
The Olympic spirit has come to this: Two authoritarian countries are vying to host the 2022 Winter Games, competing to endure a huge financial strain for the benefit of burnishing their public image. The withdrawal of Oslo in October left Beijing, China’s capital, and Almaty, the largest city in Kazakhstan, as the contenders. They formally submitted their bids to the International Olympic Committee this month.
That helps explain why the president of the International Olympic Committee, the German lawyer Thomas Bach, pushed through landmark human rights reforms at a big Olympic summit meeting in Monaco last month.
For the first time, host countries must sign a contract that requires protections for human rights, labor and the environment.… Seguir leyendo »
There’s little dispute that Qatar’s successful bid to host the World Cup in 2022 has become a debacle. FIFA shouldn’t let a good crisis go to waste.
The steady drumbeat of bribery allegations and horrific reports of migrant worker deaths have disturbed fans, alarmed sponsors and finally forced FIFA — the governing body responsible for organizing the quadrennial tournament — to reexamine the selection of the tiny, oil-rich emirate to host soccer’s most celebrated event.
Following the international outcry against the inhumane treatment of the thousands of foreign-born workers who are rapidly building the stadiums and infrastructure needed by 2022, FIFA has reportedly indicated that it’s considering plans to evaluate Qatar’s human rights record as part of any potential re-vote on the nation’s bid.… Seguir leyendo »
El partido “amistoso” entre la selección española de fútbol y la de Guinea Ecuatorial del pasado 16 de noviembre ha generado un considerable debate alrededor de la relación entre el deporte y la política. O al menos, entre la relación de un equipo que acude a disputar un partido de fútbol y el respeto a los derechos humanos del país que acoge el encuentro.
Sorprende que la cuestión aparezca con tanta fuerza cuando es un equipo de fútbol el que participa y no cuando es un gobierno, unas empresas o unas administraciones los que viajan a firmar acuerdos en países de dudosa ética.… Seguir leyendo »
Soy brasileña y no me gusta el fútbol. Paradójico, ¿no? Vengo de un país cuyos índices de natalidad suben después de cada Mundial, crecí cercada de pelotas y de gente que insistía en patearlas, dije Pelé antes de decir papá y aprendí el himno nacional para poder cantarlo en un estadio.
Pero a pesar de todo esto, o quizás por todo esto, empecé a desarrollar un extraño odio hacia este deporte. El fútbol está sobrevalorado, y me impresiona ver la importancia exagerada que tiene en nuestra sociedad. Vivimos en un mundo donde los futbolistas se convierten en héroes y la gente se pelea en los estadios por defender a un equipo.… Seguir leyendo »
When you put the Olympics in the hands of a dictatorship, the results are predictable. Yet the Chinese government still found a way to surprise even its critics -- not so much by behaving oppressively but by doing so in a foolish and entirely unnecessary way.
By revoking the visa of 2006 Olympian Joey Cheek at the very last moment because he had the nerve to speak out about Darfur and the Chinese government's support for Sudan's barbarous regime, Chinese authorities guaranteed that the opening of these Games would focus as much on politics as on sports. The burden now is not on China's critics but on its government.… Seguir leyendo »
Por Esteban Ibarra, presidente del Movimiento contra la Intolerancia y miembro del Observatorio del Racismo en el Deporte (EL PAÍS, 12/03/06):
Los gritos e insultos racistas dirigidos a Samuel Eto'o en la Romareda confirman la continuidad de episodios de racismo en el fútbol y también de sus protagonistas: los grupos neofascistas que anidan en los fondos ultras. Lo demuestran las infamias persistentes surgidas de gargantas fanáticas ubicadas en torno a la zona ultra del Ligallo, que durante todo el partido fueron acompañadas de gestos obscenos haciendo saludos nazis. Según datos policiales, antes de comenzar el partido hubo diversas agresiones de ultras a aficionados que portaban bufandas del Barcelona.… Seguir leyendo »
Por Jaime Lissavetzky, secretario de Estado para el Deporte (EL PAÍS, 12/03/06):
El fútbol es el deporte más popular en nuestro país, el que cuenta con más seguidores y el que más emoción y pasiones suscita. La popularidad y aceptación que tiene el fútbol confieren a este deporte una dimensión de espejo social en el que mirarnos, pero que también muestra al mundo cómo somos y nos comportamos, qué valores sociales compartimos, cuál es nuestra cultura deportiva y qué reflejo tiene todo ello en las gradas de un estadio cuando se enfrentan dos equipos rivales. España y el resto de países de la Unión Europea conforman un espacio público compartido de ciudadanía, de libertad individual, de seguridad jurídica y de bienestar social.… Seguir leyendo »
Racismo sin racistas. El avance de la xenofobia en el fútbol español es evidente y grave, aunque se niegue o minusvalore. Federico Javaloy, Catedrático de Psicología Social de la Universitat de Barcelona (EL PERIODICO, 04/12/04).
Utilizamos cookies para el correcto funcionamiento de la página web y analíticas para estadísticas.ACEPTARPolítica de privacidad
