World Cup Qatar 2022 | 234

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Down to Business English - World Cup Qatar 2022 | Episode 234

Date: December 11, 2022
Hosts: Skip Montreux (Tokyo, Japan) & Des Morgan (Sterling, UK; currently in China)
Theme: Exploring the business, economic, and ethical aspects behind the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, and improving business English through topical news.

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Episode Overview

This episode centers on the massive business, financial, and human stories behind the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. The hosts examine Qatar’s motives for hosting, the influence of sovereign wealth funds in global football, allegations of corruption within FIFA, the darker sides of rapid development, and the concept of “sportswashing.” The show also features a “Down to Vocabulary” (D2V) segment, where business English vocabulary from the discussion is explained.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Global Trends in Cashless Societies

• Des shares his challenges with Christmas shopping in China due to the pervasive use of smartphone payment apps (Alipay and WeChat Pay) which require a local bank account ([00:26]-[01:39]).

• Discussion of Alipay (Alibaba Group, Jack Ma) and WeChat Pay (Tencent) as powerful entities in China's tech and finance sectors.

  “The two biggest apps, the ones that everyone use, are Alipay and WeChat Pay.”
  – Des ([01:09])

2. Sports Investment & Sovereign Wealth Funds

• Qatar and UAE extensively investing in football via sovereign wealth funds.

• Sovereign wealth funds explained: State-owned pools of money generated by national revenues (mainly oil), invested for long-term returns.

• Comparison to Norway's well-known fund ([04:30]-[05:17]).

• Football clubs as “viewed as good safe investments” for revenue and national pride ([05:28]).

  “Football clubs have come to be viewed as good safe investments. Revenue of ticket sales and merchandise bring in a steady income.”
  – Des ([05:28])

• Example investments: UAE's purchase of Manchester City (UK), Qatar’s acquisition of Paris Saint Germain (PSG) and $750 million in player transfers ([05:44]-[06:25]).

3. The Economics of Hosting the World Cup

• Qatar spent an estimated $220 billion, “far and away the most expensive World Cup in history” ([06:41]-[07:02]).

• Perspective: South Africa spent only $3.5 billion in 2010 ([07:02]-[07:15]).

• Infrastructure built: 7 new stadiums, a metro system, a luxury artificial island hotel ([07:15]-[07:34]).

  “Most of the money was spent on building and infrastructure projects... including an entire artificial island with a luxury hotel on it.”
  – Des ([07:15])

4. Human Cost and Ethics: Migrant Workers & Workplace Deaths

• An estimated 6,500 deaths among migrant workers since Qatar was awarded the cup (figure from The Guardian, UK), which Qatar disputes ([07:44]-[08:05]).

  “The Guardian newspaper in the UK estimates that at least 6,500 people have died since Qatar was awarded the World Cup in 2010.”
  – Des ([07:44])

5. Corruption & Bribery in FIFA

• 2020 US Department of Justice found evidence of Qatar and Russia bribing FIFA officials ([08:14]-[08:27]).

• Details of money paid to five FIFA top board members ahead of hosting votes; references to vote-selling and ongoing legal battles ([08:32]-[09:41]).

  “Three media executives and a sports marketing company were also accused of charges ranging from fraud to money laundering.”
  – Des ([09:47])

• Rights to US World Cup broadcasting awarded to Fox without open competition, bypassing former rights holders (ABC/ESPN), suggesting more corruption ([10:28]-[10:55]).

6. Media Exposure & Public Pressure

• Documentary FIFA Uncovered (Netflix, November 2022) highlighted FIFA’s history of corruption ([11:07]-[11:22]).

  “Netflix... released a documentary in early November titled FIFA Uncovered. It illustrated quite clear corruption in FIFA going back for decades.”
  – Des ([11:08])

7. “Sportswashing” and Celebrity Branding

• David Beckham paid $200 million to be Qatar 2022 ambassador; obligations were light compared to the fee ([11:44]-[12:17]).

• Concept of “sportswashing”: using popular sporting events to bolster national reputation, despite controversies ([12:27]-[12:45]).

  “When a government or corporation tries to improve their reputation by associating themselves with a popular sporting event, it really is the whole reason Qatar has gone to the trouble to host the World Cup.”
  – Des ([12:30])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On sovereign wealth funds and football investment:

  “Football clubs have come to be viewed as good safe investments.” – Des ([05:28])

• On the staggering cost of Qatar’s World Cup:

  “Qatar has spent around $220 billion building stadiums and all of the other expenses...” – Des ([07:02])

• On human cost:

  “The Guardian newspaper in the UK estimates that at least 6,500 people have died...” – Des ([07:44])

• On corruption exposure:

  “International sporting events and corruption seem to go hand in hand.” – Skip ([10:10])

• On sportswashing:

  “One word. Sportswashing.” – Des ([12:27])

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Important Segment Timestamps

• Cashless China & Tech Giants: [00:26]-[02:28]
• Introduction to World Cup Business: [02:39]-[04:08]
• Sovereign Wealth Funds & Football: [04:08]-[06:25]
• Qatar's World Cup Spending: [06:41]-[07:34]
• Migrant Worker Deaths: [07:34]-[08:05]
• FIFA Corruption & Bribery: [08:14]-[09:41]
• US Media Rights Scandal: [09:47]-[10:55]
• FIFA Uncovered, Media Pressure: [11:07]-[11:22]
• David Beckham & Sportswashing: [11:44]-[12:45]

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Business English Vocabulary (D2V) Highlights

The episode includes an extended vocabulary segment, explaining:

• Behemoth: something very big/powerful ([14:43]).
  “Des refers to Tencent as a behemoth, meaning very big and powerful.”
• To funnel: to move something through a narrow space ([15:47]).
• To put (something) into perspective: comparing to clarify value/size ([16:49]).
• Extradition: legal transfer of accused criminals between countries ([17:38]).
• Whopping: a very large amount ([19:03]).

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Final Thoughts & Tone

The hosts blend light banter with sharp critique, maintaining a conversational, sometimes ironic tone. They acknowledge their own cultural differences in football terminology (soccer vs. football), and despite the episode's heavy topics (scandal, corruption, human rights), end on a lighter note referencing the enjoyment of the World Cup as an event.

“Putting all the corruption and scandals aside, I am enjoying the matches I’ve watched so far.” – Des ([20:49])

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Summary prepared for listeners interested in the business realities and ethical debates surrounding the 2022 FIFA World Cup, with clear explanations for business English learners.

Transcript

[A]

From Tokyo, Japan, and Sterling in the United Kingdom, this is down to business English with your hosts, Skip Montreux and Des Morgan.

[B]

Hello, Des. Good to be talking with you once again. How are things with you?

[C]

Ah, you know, not too bad, Skip. Although I need to start Christmas shopping pretty soon. Do you know what? It's not so easy for me here in China as I don't speak a word of the language.

[B]

I can certainly sympathize with that, Des. After all of these years here in Tokyo, I can get by in Japanese fairly well. But shopping is still sometimes a challenge for me.

[C]

And there's another problem I'm facing, and that's China is pretty much a cashless society now, and I don't have a Chinese bank account yet.

[B]

Oh, so everyone is paying by credit card?

[C]

No, through smartphone apps.

[B]

Oh, like Apple Pay?

[C]

Yeah, like Apple Pay. But here, the two biggest apps, the ones that everyone use, are Alipay and WeChat Pay.

[B]

Oh, okay, I've heard of both of those.

[C]

They're used for virtually every transaction. Even the noodle cart on the street near my flat only takes either of those apps.

[B]

Wow.

[C]

The choke point is for whichever app you use, you need to connect it to a local bank account. Without a bank account, you can't use

[B]

the apps, so you are out of luck.

[C]

I am up the old creek without a paddle, so to speak.

[B]

Say Alipay. Is that part of Jack Ma's Alibaba empire?

[C]

It sure is.

[B]

You know, the Financial Times reported recently that Jack Ma has been living in Tokyo for the past six months.

[C]

He certainly has been out of the spotlight the past few years here in China. That perhaps explain it.

[B]

What about WeChat? Who owns that?

[C]

WeChat is owned by another Chinese behemoth, tech giant, Tencent. They own everything from a video game company to get this, the bicycle rental company.

[B]

Bicycle rental is that big in China?

[C]

Well, it must be, because Alipay is the owner of the other big one in the market, so I imagine it must be pretty profitable.

[B]

Well, we have established that you have not been shopping because you don't have an Alipay or WeChat account set up. So, Des, what have you been up to?

[C]

Do you really have to ask me that? What's the whole world doing right now?

[B]

The whole world? What are they doing right? Well, they're watching the World Cup.

[C]

Yes, finally. I've been watching the World Cup.

[B]

FIFA's World cup is a huge international business story. Is this what you will be reporting on today?

[C]

It is. And specifically the World Cup. 2022 in Qatar.

[B]

Sounds good.

[C]

So let's do it. Let's get D2B down to business with the World Cup. How did this year's World cup end up being hosted by Qatar? What are the financial and human costs involved in hosting this international soccer tournament? And what is all this talk about sportswashing? Before we get going, I think congratulations are in order.

[B]

Oh, you are no doubt referring to Japan's victories over Germany and Spain. They won both of those matches 2 to 1.

[C]

I was sure referring to those two games, man, they were quite amazing.

[B]

And England progressed from the group stage. So congratulations to you as well.

[C]

Thanks. But putting the sports aspect aside, let's focus on the World cup from a business angle.

[B]

Sure. What can you tell us about Qatar 2022?

[C]

Qatar, like its UAE neighbour, has been funneling a serious amount of money into football over the last few years.

[B]

I know that the UAE sovereign wealth fund put out a lot of money to buy the Manchester City soccer club in the uk, but I wasn't aware about that for Qatar.

[C]

Yeah, well, Qatar and the UAE have been funneling money into football, either directly or indirectly through their sovereign wealth funds. Perhaps I should explain what a sovereign wealth fund is.

[B]

Good idea.

[C]

Well, primarily oil rich nations invest some of their oil revenue into a fund that is owned and controlled by the state. Norway has the richest one, but Qatar and the UAE are certainly not far behind.

[B]

Hmm. I didn't know Norway had a sovereign wealth fund.

[C]

They sure do. Norway gets a tremendous amount of royalties from North Sea oil revenue. Hmm.

[B]

Okay, that makes sense. So a sovereign wealth fund invests money on behalf of the state.

[C]

That's right. And they invest in a wide range of assets that will bring in a safe income stream for many years to come.

[B]

The key word there being safe.

[C]

Yes, that's true. And football clubs have come to be viewed as good safe investments. Revenue of ticket sales and merchandise bring in a steady income.

[B]

Plus of course there's the national pride around owning a top performing soccer club.

[C]

I remember that from my time living in the uae. As you mentioned, they owned the Premier League team Manchester City and they were very proud of that.

[B]

No doubt.

[C]

In a similar move, Qatar bought the French team Paris Saint Germain in 2011 and has invested a lot of money in that organization since then.

[B]

And what kind of investments would they be?

[C]

Big, including 750 million in player transfers and acquisitions alone.

[B]

That is a lot of cash to acquire talent. Was it a good investment?

[C]

Seeing as how PSG have been the French champions for eight of the last 10 years? Do you know what? I'd say it's a pretty good investment.

[B]

Sorry. Psg. What's that?

[C]

Paris Saint Germain. They are commonly called psg.

[B]

I got it. Okay. So I guess Qatar's experience with PSG spurred on their decision to make a bid for the World Cup.

[C]

It would sure seem that way. Moving on to the economics of holding the World cup, it's rumored that Qatar has spent around $220 billion building stadiums and all of the other expenses surrounding the event, making this far and away the most expensive World cup in history.

[B]

$220 billion. To put that into perspective. I know when South Africa hosted the World cup in 2010, they only spent $3.5 billion.

[C]

I know inflation is high, but it's not that high. Most of the money was spent on building and infrastructure projects, including seven new stadiums, a whole metro system, and get this, an entire artificial island with a luxury hotel on it.

[B]

Wow. And I heard that all of the building has come at quite considerable costs to the migrant workers on the construction project.

[C]

The Guardian newspaper in the UK estimates that at least 6,500 people have died since Qatar was awarded the World cup in 2010.

[B]

That's over 500 people a year over the past 12 years.

[C]

Qatar has, of course, disputed this figure, but even so, it's pretty concerning.

[B]

Haven't there also been rumors involving bribery that Qatar bribed FIFA officials in order to win the bid?

[C]

There has. In 2020, after a lengthy investigation, the United States Department of Justice announced that they had evidence of both Qatar and Russia bribing FIFA officials.

[B]

I think a lot of people suspected that was the case.

[C]

The prosecutors revealed details about money paid to five specific members, FIFA's top board, ahead of the 2010 vote to choose Russia to host the 2018 World cup and Qatar to host the this year's event.

[B]

That just shows you how much I don't follow soccer. I didn't even know Russia hosted the World Cup.

[C]

Oh, they did. Russia defeated a bid from England, along with joint bids from Holland and Belgium and Spain and Portugal to host the 2018 men's tournament.

[B]

Some stiff competition. And what about Qatar? Who did they outbid?

[C]

Qatar won over a bid from the United States, but interestingly, the group of FIFA voters had to be trimmed because two members had been secretly filmed agreeing to sell their votes.

[B]

Boy, a lot of shady dealings going on around the World Cup. But getting back to these five FIFA officials that U.S. prosecutors are looking at, what happened to them?

[C]

Two have since died, while the other three are fighting extradition to the US for trial.

[B]

Mmm, I see.

[C]

However, that's not the whole story.

[B]

Oh, there. There is more.

[C]

There is. Three media executives and a sports marketing company were also accused of charges ranging from fraud to money laundering. Attention focused on executives from 21st Century Fox that won the US broadcasting rights to televise both the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

[B]

That is just terrible. There's a similar ongoing scandal surrounding the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics and Dentsu, Japan's biggest or largest advertising agency. International sporting events and corruption seem to go hand in hand.

[C]

They do. The corruption became glaringly obvious when FIFA gave the TV rights to the 2026 World cup to Fox without even accepting bids from any other networks. ABC and ESPN had held the rights to broadcast World cup games in the US since 1994.

[B]

And they were not allowed to bid.

[C]

Apparently not.

[B]

I guess FIFA has become overconfident as they have gotten away with all of this for so long.

[C]

We may never know everything, but there seems to be more pressure on them these days.

[B]

Oh, pressure.

[C]

For example, for example, Netflix, they released a documentary in early November titled FIFA Uncovered. It illustrated quite clear corruption in FIFA going back for decades.

[B]

Well, hopefully it will prompt more and more people to speak out against this corruption in FIFA.

[C]

We shall see. On a final note, do you remember the England footballer David Beckham?

[B]

Of course. I clearly remember when he played in the World cup in Japan 20 years ago. Is he caught up in all of this as well?

[C]

Not directly for corruption, but he is under the spotlight for receiving a whopping US$200 million to be a FIFA ambassador for the Qatar tournament.

[B]

Wow, that is a lot of money. What does he have to do for that?

[C]

Well, not a great deal really. He had to play in a six a side exhibition game, shoot a 30 minute promotional video and meet and greet a few officials. Oh, also, I forgot to ment he got to ride a motorbike in the video.

[B]

Sounds like nice work if you can get it.

[C]

Yeah, it sure does, doesn't it?

[B]

Why in the world would Qatar pay someone that much money to seemingly do so little?

[C]

One word. Sports washing.

[B]

Sports washing.

[C]

When a government or corporation tries to improve their reputation by associating themselves with a popular sporting event, it really is the whole reason Qatar has gone to the trouble to host the World Cup.

[B]

To improve their international reputation.

[C]

That's right. And getting Beckham to be their ambassador, well, that helps out a lot. Because he's very popular, even though he hasn't played for almost a decade. Well, at least in theory, he does seem to be getting a lot of negative press over this ambassadorship though.

[B]

Well, maybe the gig on sports washing is up.

[C]

We will see.

[B]

And on that note, I think it is time for us to get D2V down to vocabulary.

[A]

Do you find down to Business English useful in your English studies? Would you like to support the show? Consider becoming a D2B member today. Down to business English memberships come with three great benefits. First, D2B members receive bonus content in the form of exclusive members only episodes. Second, within moments of a new episode being released, an audio script is automatically emailed to you. There is no need for D2B members to go through the time consuming process of visiting the website, logging into their account, locating an episode, and then downloading the audio Script file. And third, D2B members have 100% access to the entire library of audio scripts all the way from season one Episode one right up to the most recently released episode. Interested in becoming a member? Just visit the down to Business English website and click on the membership link at the top of the page.

[B]

I will start D2V off today with the noun behemoth. This word is actually from the Old Testament of the Bible.

[C]

Is it?

[B]

It is. A giant creature named Behemoth is mentioned in the Book of Job and that is what the word has come to mean. Something that is very big or very powerful.

[C]

I did not know that.

[B]

And I noticed that you and I pronounce this word differently. Des. I pronounce it behemoth. How do you pronounce this? In British English I would say behemoth. In the story, Des refers to the Chinese tech company Tencent as a behemoth. By calling it a behemoth, he is communicating. It is very big and very powerful.

[C]

Another example of behemoth would be meta Facebook and WhatsApp's parent company. They are the behemoth of social media in the US and in Europe.

[B]

True enough.

[C]

Our next word is the verb to funnel, which means to move something through a small, narrow space in a particular direction or for a specific purpose. In the story, I discuss how the sovereign wealth funds of the UAE and Qatar have been funneling money into football clubs.

[B]

In other words, they are moving money into soccer.

[C]

Exactly. As a noun, a funnel is a cylindrical piece of equipment you can use to pour a liquid into a container. Like pouring gasoline into your car's gas tank. Skip. Can you use it in a business context?

[B]

Oh sure. Online marketing is all about setting up sales funnels. You provide a lot of free content to collect email addresses and contact information of potential customers and then funnel them towards one day purchasing your product.

[C]

Nice example.

[B]

Thanks.

[C]

What's our next word?

[B]

Next, we have the expression to put something into perspective. The noun perspective means a point of view or a way of looking at things. However, in the story, I used to to put something into perspective. When I compared the cost of South Africa's World cup to the cost of Qatar's World cup, there was a huge difference. And that is when you want to use this phrase, when you want to communicate the value, size, or importance of something by comparing it to something else.

[C]

I eat out a lot in China, which may sound expensive, but to put that into perspective, you can buy a meal here for just a few dollars.

[B]

So it isn't really expensive at all?

[C]

No, not at all. Next on the D2V list, we have the noun extradition. Extradition is a legal procedure that takes place when a person accused or convicted of a crime is handed over to the country where the crime was committed.

[B]

So. So they committed a crime in one country and then left for another country before being caught.

[C]

That's right. In the story, I said that three FIFA officials were fighting extradition to the U.S. they are being charged by the U.S. justice Department, but they don't live in the US. The US has to formally ask the governments of the countries where they live to hand them over.

[B]

What did you mean by fighting extradition?

[C]

Simply that the accused are legally challenging the extradition in their own country's court system.

[B]

Got it.

[C]

Extradition can become really tricky when the crime is considered to be more serious in one country than the other country. I remember a story about 10 years ago when a British computer hacker was accused of breaking into the Pentagon computers.

[B]

Was he extradited?

[C]

That's just it. He was never extradited. The British government felt the sentence the US courts had imposed was really too heavy.

[B]

Interesting.

[C]

Do you have our last word?

[B]

I do. Our final word on D2V today is the adjective whopping. When you describe something as whopping, whopping, you are saying it is very, very large.

[C]

Like a behemoth.

[B]

Yes, but a behemoth is a noun.

[C]

Right.

[B]

In the story, Des commented that David Beckham was being paid a whopping US$200 million for being an ambassador to the Qatar World Cup. In other words, $200 million is a very, very, very large sum of money.

[C]

Microsoft paid a whopping $2.5 billion when it purchased Minecraft in 2014. It seemed like a lot of money at the time, but maybe it made sense.

[A]

Would you like to support down to business. English help D2B reach more people wanting to improve their business English skills. Be sure to subscribe to down to Business English on Apple podcasts or any place podcasts are found. While you are there, why don't you leave a rating and a review down to Business English Business News to improve your business English.

[B]

Very interesting report on World cup guitar 2022. Des, thanks so much for that.

[C]

My pleasure, Skip. Putting all the corruption and scandals aside, I am enjoying the matches I've watched so far.

[B]

Well, as you know, I am not much of a soccer fan, but even I was moved by Japan's performance against Germany and Spain. They are both behemoths in the soccer world.

[C]

Any chance you can stop calling it soccer and refer to it as it should be referred Football?

[B]

Not a chance.

[C]

Not a chance.

[B]

Not a chance. Let me put it into perspective for you. Me calling soccer football is like Tim Cook using an Android phone. It would be unnatural and unsettling.

[C]

Well, I suppose that does put it into perspective for me.

[B]

Thanks for listening everyone. See you next time. Bye Bye.

[A]

Have a comment or question about today's show? Don't be shy. Visit the D2B website or Facebook page and post any comments or questions there. Skip, Des or Samantha will be sure to leave a reply. Down to Business English Business News to improve your business English.