Guilt by Association

In a perfect world, sports would allow people to escape the moral and ethical decision-making that plagues life today. Sports are supposed to be a place for people to relax and enjoy competition, free from the chaos of their daily lives. While that ideal is not always achieved in any sport, soccer (or football as it’s called in much of the world) has seemingly been threatened the most by outside sources.

These outside sources have been primarily Gulf-region countries such as UAE, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. Why have they taken such a financial interest in soccer? One reason is that they’re diversifying their portfolio, as the world will eventually move away from their main export of natural gas. Another, more sinister idea has been floated in regard to these countries’ new financial interests in sports, specifically soccer, purporting they are attempting to use the sport — as well as its teams, competitions, and players — as vehicles to rehabilitate their images.

The reason these countries’ images necessitate rehabilitation is the abhorrent human rights abuses that have occurred and continue to occur in these countries, especially concerning women and members of the LGBTQ+ community. An example of these human rights violations occurred during the construction of stadiums for Qatar’s hosting of the 2022 World Cup. Migrants were subject to the Kafala system, with estimates of death tolls reaching the thousands, due to being subject to inhumane working and housing conditions, as well as a host of other issues.

This even prompted a backlash in the lead-up to the tournament, with international pressure reaching a breaking point, as the Kafala system was repealed and then reinstituted following the tournament. These countries and others are attempting to use sport as a way of bringing about positive sentiments in regard to their countries, despite their abhorrent human rights record. This issue is not confined to soccer alone, but for the purposes of this article, we will be focusing solely on soccer, as the prevalence of sportswashing within soccer is unmatched in any other sport.

For greater insight into this issue, I spoke to ethics scholar Kyle Fruh, who wrote a piece on sportswashing in collaboration with Alfred Archer and Jake Wojtowicz, titled, Sportswashing: Complicity and Corruption. Three forms of sportswashing have taken hold in modern sports: ownership, sponsorship, and event hosting, with each having slightly differing methods of reaching the same end goal of a positive association with a country due to their connection or involvement in sport. Fruh stated that these countries’ objective is to “evade being held accountable through their positive association with sport.” In this way, these “regimes that are responsible for gross moral violations are not held responsible in the way they should be,” due to said involvement in sport.

Ownership

Ownership is the most pervasive of the three forms of sportswashing, as countries use the personal connections fans have with their teams in an attempt to refurbish their own reputation. Fans are in a particularly difficult situation, as Fruh stated that “the positive role that these things play in your life is vulnerable.” What he’s referencing is the role that clubs play in fans’ lives, especially in regard to ownership as the club they support may be due to the regional proximity or familial ties that go back generations, making the choice to watch or not a difficult decision.

Fans supporting their team end up buying into and perpetuating potential sportswashing that only serves the country or regime. Fans are forced to decide between supporting a team bankrolled by those who suppress the civil rights and liberties of women and members of the LGBTQ+ community, or simply letting go of their sports fandom due to conditions entirely out of their control. Fruh was careful not to denigrate any fans who have stayed loyal to their team, as “the roots of the fandom are very deep and meaningful to them and pre-exist where the problematic entity is now involved.”

The overall goal of ownership may even surpass simple reputational laundering, with some fans even turning into defenders of these regimes. The Manchester City Football Club in Manchester, UK is a prime example of that, with them being bought in 2008 by the Abu Dhabi United Group, a company owned by Sheikh Mansour, a member of the UAE royal family. Due to the substantial financial means provided by this new ownership group, Manchester City experienced sustained success, winning six of the last eight Premier League titles. But the new financial means also led to claims of financial malfeasance. Over the course of these allegation’s lifetime, fans have defended not only their club but have become staunch defenders of the owners as well.

This is the coup of the sportswashing project, as they have endeared themselves to the fanbase, insulating themselves from real accusations of sportswashing, and creating defenders of not only themselves in their club roles, but the UAE regime itself which has an abhorrent human rights record according to Amnesty International. This ingratiation shows just how pervasive the project of sportswashing through ownership can be, as it not only repairs reputations but actively creates defenders of the regime’s abuses.

Sponsorship

Sponsorship is the most prevalent method whereby the project of sportswashing attempts to smooth over human rights abuses and create positive associations. Sponsorship is very similar to ownership, in that regimes hope to curate positive associations through the positive association fans already have with well-known entities.

A particularly stark example of the sportswashing project is La Liga’s sponsorship deal with Visit Saudi, with La Liga being Spain’s top professional football league, holding positive associations across the globe. The reason for this particular sponsorship being so perverse is because of Javier Tebas’ comments in regard to Saudi Arabia’s involvement in the project of sportswashing. Merely five years ago, Tebas spoke out against this project, and specifically Saudi Arabia for using sports to “whitewash” the image of the government. Tebas even went as far as speaking out about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post who was killed by agents of the Saudi Arabian government for speaking out against the government’s policies. Clearly, money won out in regard to Tebas’ stated position in regard to sportswashing, as La Liga is hosting domestic finals in Saudi Arabia as well as taking in $20 million per year thanks to their partnership with Visit Saudi.

This abandoning of values shows how money has been prioritized, with all else fading to the background. Saudi Arabia’s hope is that, through this partnership along with continued matches hosted in their country, the positive association people across the world have with La Liga will slowly rub off onto Saudi Arabia itself. With moral and ethical concerns not high on the agenda, these regimes are becoming more emboldened. There is potential for wide-ranging consequences, with the hope being their human rights abuses of the past fade into distant memory, as a new generation grows up having these regimes associated with brands they know and love. These practices will only become more prevalent if people are not able to stand behind their values.

 Event Hosting

Event hosting is the most topical of the three forms of sportswashing. With Qatar acting as the host country for the 2022 World Cup, the project of sportswashing reached the world stage. As stated before, migrant workers — predominantly from Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, Kenya, and the Philippines — were subjected to forced labor and were unable to leave one job for another, or even the country for that matter, due to the Kafala system. This led the prelude of the World Cup to be marred by international pressure on Qatar in regard to the conditions migrant workers were subject to. Fruh asserted the reason for this pressure was due to the fact that the “labor system was the very thing that was producing the infrastructure for the event.”

A key factor to consider concerning event hosting is whether potential positive associations will outweigh the potential negative associations. This means the goal of the country hosting the event may never be reached. As a result, people will enjoy the matches themselves but leave with a negative viewpoint of the host nation. This also directly corresponds to the media environment you are in. If you are only shown the perfect perspective of the event, that may be the viewpoint you will leave the event with. If you are shown other perspectives that put the event and its host’s morality into question, you may leave with a slightly more negative viewpoint.

Complicity

The final topic Fruh discussed was the issue of complicity in regard to the project of sportswashing, as fans are not the only ones forced to make difficult decisions. Players and coaches are forced to make decisions in regard to taking part in competitions viewed as part of the sportswashing project. Fruh expressed sympathy for both parties, saying “we have to acknowledge a wide degree of latitude for how we expect people to behave responsibly in these roles.” In some cases, the manager or players are at the mercy of their owners and could be subject to extreme punishment if they were to speak out. At the end of the day, both players and coaches have worked their entire lives to reach the positions they are in, and expecting them to speak on issues they have no control over is a gargantuan ask.

An extreme example is the Saudi Pro League’s signing of new star players Neymar and Cristiano Ronaldo. Both are icons in their own right and are now playing for and legitimizing not only the league but the regime itself. Thanks to Neymar and Ronaldo’s global reach, the project of sportswashing has not only been legitimized but also widened. Players and coaches are in an impossible position, but small actions could lead to more collective action being possible, rather than waiting in silence or taking an active role in the project of sportswashing overall.

Why This Matters

Through the project of sportswashing, all the importance that an event, team or competition held is simply used as a tool to sell the audience on positive associations of the country or regime. In this way, the prestige or history is only used to prop up the regime or country itself, rather than focus on the actual event, team or competition. Especially in soccer, tradition and history are a major part of the overall event or team itself, or as Fruh states, “valuable just by being traditions.”

An example is the World Cup which, as Fruh stated, holds “this whole collection of memorable moments that people treasure,” which was used in the Qatar 2022 World Cup as, “a vehicle for the duty of making authoritarianism.” If we do not protect our sports traditions and histories they will become vehicles, and as the project of sportswashing continues, Fruh’s sentiment that ”we’re losing something” will become truer and truer within the world of sports.