The curtain rose on the grand ceremony of the World Cup
Questions, discussions, criticisms for an age - there is no end to the controversy surrounding the World Cup in Qatar. The 22nd season of the World Cup was lifted with the grand opening ceremony. Fural has been waiting almost four years for another global event.
The opening ceremony started at 8:30 PM Bangladesh time on
Sunday at Al Bait Stadium in Al Khor city, about 50 kilometers away from the
capital Doha.
At the beginning of the program, the former Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, was shown on the stadium's big screen.
At this time, the audience burst into cheers. He held up the trophy after Qatar won the bid to host the World Cup in Switzerland in 2010.
A few camels are also seen in the field at the beginning of the event. It shows the tradition of the desert country. Qatar's history and culture are presented in dance and song. Then the legendary American actor Morgan Freeman came to the stage. He talked about the route of the World Cup.
Later the song started again. The performers came dressed in traditional Qatari clothes. There was a cover and a sword in hand. The theme songs of previous seasons were played.
Flags of all the teams of the event were brought to the stage to the beat of the song. Was the giant mascot of all the past events. Then Jung Kook, the singer of the Korean band BTS, came on stage. He was later joined by Qatari singer Fahad Al-Qobaisi in the song Dreamers.
Finally, the opening ceremony was concluded by thanking everyone. The curtain rises on the World Cup.
This is the first time that the World Cup is being held in a Middle Eastern country. However, since Qatar got the right to host the World Cup, there have been allegations that a lot of money has been traded. This allegation was however dismissed. Different types of discussion-criticism started with it.
Initially, the country's hot weather and European club football's decision to host the World Cup in the middle of the season drew strong criticism. Later, renewed criticism began over the country's human rights record, the authorities' "inhumane treatment" of migrant workers, and the country's criminalization of homosexuality.
The Australian team protested against human rights abuses in
Qatar and the country's stance on homosexuality. The Denmark team said
their players will not travel to Qatar with their families due to human rights
violations.
In view of these protests, FIFA sent a letter to the 32 teams of the World Cup asking them to focus on football. Amnesty International later complained that the world football governing body was trying to cover up the human rights issue.
In February last year, Britain's leading newspaper "The
Guardian" reported in a report that at least 6,500 migrant workers from
India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka died in the country after Qatar was
given the opportunity to host the World Cup.
The decision to host the World Cup in Qatar was a mistake in
a series of comments by then-FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who was banned for
corruption in 2015.
Gianni Infantino, who became FIFA president after Blatter, took a hand from critics in a press conference in Doha on the day before the start of the World Cup. He termed the report on Qatar's human rights record as 'hypocrisy' by the Europeans. The FIFA chief also said that Europeans should apologize for their actions before talking about the rights of migrant workers in the country.
This time the curtain went up on the World Cup amid such opposite positions of various parties. The battle will continue till December 18.
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