Qatar’s billions get the picture they paid for
It’s just impossible to separate it from the complicated context. Messi was given the bisht by Qatar’s autocratic ruler, for the moment of maximum visibility that goes down in history, at the climax of a competition this autocracy has been using for political purposes.
That is inherently political, to say the very least.
It ensured that, in Argentina’s moment, there was the Emir’s gift, front and centre. That by extension put Qatar front and centre, forever associated with this immortal image in a manner that had been the grand calculation of this entire tournament.
It’s the same idea that means Doha is forever associated with great goals and moments, just like the Azteca, say, with Diego Maradona or Pele. It ensures the wider discussion of Qatar is diluted by these positive images. It is a subtly powerful thing.
It is why this is one final act of sportswashing.
There have already been some significant counter-arguments and pushback to that, in a way that has happened throughout this World Cup.
One is that the bisht is common throughout the Middle East and not just Qatar, so this should only be looked on in terms of the culture, and is obviously a great honour.
That’s of course true but this isn’t about the garment or gesture. It’s about who is doing it, why and when.
Again, that it has come from the ruler of an autocracy means it is deeply political. Nothing about this World Cup can be free of politics.
As one human rights activist who has worked on Qatar and the wider Middle East said to the Independent, “it’s a clear attempt to foreground the host over the winners and of course the orientalism charge is their default. It’s pretty obvious what they are doing and why.”
A similar response is relevant with the widely spread photo of Pele in a sombrero at the Azteca in 1970.
It wasn’t at the iconic moment of lifting the trophy, having been given to him by an autocratic ruler.
Lionel Messi receives the World Cup trophy from FIFA President Gianni Infantino as Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani watches
The actions of these sort of leaders should not be so blithely passed over. No previous captain has ever had something put on them by a figure of such power at the instance of winning the trophy.
Many will also point to the benign nature of the gesture.
It might be soft but that’s the entire point of soft power.
There are more complicated elements to this, too.
Messi is a player of Paris Saint-Germain, who are of course owned by the Qatari state. The Argentina captain is also a tourism ambassador of Saudi Arabia.
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Amid all of this, it’s impossible to say this was some simple cultural honour. It was a symbolic moment, in a World Cup that has been about image as much as anything else.
Qatar has spent an awful lot, up to $220bn. It now has a picture that goes beyond value.
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