Like 5 billion people around the world, I’ve been watching a lot of soccer lately. The World Cup is in full swing, and I’m loving the competition—though not the surrounding controversy. Although enthusiasm for the world’s most popular sport still lags here, the United States Men’s National Team is doing their part—advancing past the group stage with a win against Iran on Tuesday.

U.S. superstar Christian Pulisic scoring against Iran. Photo credit: Fox Sports (Alex Grimm/Getty Images)

The U.S. will play the Netherlands on Saturday in the round of 16 remaining teams. It is win-or-go-home from here on out. With the youngest average age of any team in the tournament, the U.S. side shows incredible talent, promise, and pride. Unlike previous World Cups when simply qualifying for the tournament finals was an achievement and getting out of the group stage a huge accomplishment, this U.S. team seems hungry for more. Stacked with a deep roster of players who compete at the highest levels of international club soccer, the Americans have high expectations of continued success.

Regardless of how far they ultimately advance in the 2022 tournament, this nucleus of generational talent has American soccer fans already excited for 2026, when the U.S. will host the World Cup along with Canada and Mexico. After failing to qualify in 2018, they have bounced back and already accomplished so much, making every American proud.

What is harder to be proud of is the International Federation of Association Football or FIFA, the sport’s governing body and host of the World Cup. The organization has been accused of corruption and mismanagement for decades. Eyebrows were particularly raised in 2010, when FIFA simultaneously announced that the 2018 World Cup had been awarded to Russia and 2022 to Qatar, despite the country lacking any of the necessary infrastructure and averaging 106°F temperatures in the summer when the World Cup is typically held.

These choices were so unexpected that many immediately suspected a tainted selection process. In fact, it was. In 2015 the U.S. Department of Justice indicted multiple FIFA officials on racketeering conspiracy and corruption charges. Netflix is airing an excellent and timely documentary about the scandal called “FIFA Uncovered” which details the schemes and people involved. And yet, the games proceeded in Russia and Qatar. Of course, both countries denied any wrongdoing and were outraged at the mere suggestion of impropriety. Whatever bribes Qatar may have paid, they are a trivial rounding error in the context of their full investment.

As excited as I am for the players and fans at this World Cup, the underbelly of corruption is evident in every match. Watching World Cup games played in November (a concession to the weather) in front of half-full stadiums, larded with VIP seating, constructed with slave labor, and unlikely ever to be used again is not a feel-good, to say the least. Many have called to boycott the games. Qatar spent an estimated $220 billion (5 Twitter’s worth!) on infrastructure projects, from hotels to highways, and of course stadiums, to host just 64 games in 29 days—dwarfing the previous largest World Cup investment by Brazil, at what was then considered an astronomical sum of $15 billion. A disproportionately ridiculous investment for the mere $17 billion the games are expected to generate for Qatar. Further, even the Qatari government acknowledges the massive human cost of “between 400 and 500” people who died during construction, though unofficial (and likely more-accurate) estimates range as high as 6,000 deaths.

The only persuasive argument in favor of Qatar is the same argument South Africa successfully made in their bid to host the 2010 World Cup. As the world’s game, the World Cup should not only be hosted in Europe or the Americas, but in Africa, the Middle East, and other regions as well. And it’s true, one of the most inspiring aspects of the World Cup is its diversity. And that diversity is better served by a wider variety of host nations, exposing us all to different cultures.

That said, given the humanitarian exploitation, it is impossible to see Qatar’s quarter-trillion-dollar investment as some sort of initiative for racial equality or social justice. Like other countries in the region, Qatar is an oil monarchy that has enriched itself while ignoring human rights and democratic ideals. Without oil, the country wouldn’t exist. Under the autocratic rule of the Al Thani royal family, Qatar has bought its way not just into hosting the World Cup but into the modern world, period.

The architect of Qatar’s rise into 21st-century nationhood was Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, who seized power from his father in 1995. At that time, the population of Qatar was just 513,447. In 1950, the emirate barely existed with a population of just 25,000. But by 2021, the population had exploded 5X to 2.94M, surging 13% in 2021 alone leading up to the World Cup. Even more astonishing was the growth in GDP under Hamad’s reign, exploding 25X from a mere $8 billion in 1995 to $199 billion in 2013 when he handed power to his son, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the current Emir of Qatar—making Qatar one of the richest countries in the world in GDP-per-capita, even if they did spend more than their entire annual GDP to host the World Cup.

That wealth is overwhelmingly concentrated among the elites. Only 11.6% of Qatar’s population are even citizens. The vast majority are “non-Qatari residents” shipped in from other countries as cheap labor to build skyscrapers, highways, and stadiums. Because these imported workers are overwhelmingly male combined with a repressive culture for women, the country is severely gender imbalanced, with a population skewed 3:1 male-to-female.

What Qatar wants, like Russia and any other oil-rich oligarchy, is first-world legitimacy. The World Cup is merely a publicity vehicle, focusing the world’s attention on their nation while, they hope, glossing over their abysmal history of human rights, particularly for women and LGBTQ+. Nations like Qatar and Russia along with organizations like FIFA, put the global economy into its true context. The previous distinctions we worried about, of Communism vs Capitalism, or Democratic vs. Autocratic, seem increasingly irrelevant. The modern world is driven less by political ideology and much more by the economics of self-interest. The battle lines are Corruption vs Morality. Exploitation vs Egalitarianism.

Unfortunately, the forces of Corruption seem to be making progress all around the world, not just at the World Cup. Corrupt officials, executives, and oligarchs are increasingly concentrating the world’s wealth and power in their hands, and acting with greater impunity believing themselves to be beyond the reach of any consequence or punishment. We’ve seen in our own politics just how far the tentacles of global corruption reach.

Of course, there is a measure of hypocrisy from the United States and Europe on this subject. A study of history tells you the wealth of so-called Western nations was built on exploitation—both of natural resources and people. From European colonization, to America’s land grab from Native populations, to the African slave trade, to our current exploitation of cheap labor in Asia and immigrant workers from Central and South America, it is easy to claim the moral high ground when your country’s wealth is already secured over past generations.

Qatar might reasonably argue, from a historical context, that they are doing nothing different. Taking what they’ve got (oil) and exploiting what they can buy (cheap labor) to get what they want (a first-world global economy). That may be true, but what the U.S. and Europe can and must demonstrate to the world, even if it is done in part to rectify our past sins, is that true modern nationhood requires not just wealth, but respect, opportunity, and equality for every citizen—inclusive of non-citizen residents. Corruption and exploitation cannot be part of the modern economy. As organically diverse nations, we need to show what a government free of corruption and exploitation could look like, even though we are still far from that ideal.

That, more than any achievement on the pitch, is what makes America great. The acknowledgement that we are not perfect, but continuously striving for a more perfect union. A more just society. Rather than retreat from the conversation, we push forward our ideals and put them on display for the world. I see that spirit in this U.S. squad, and that makes me proud.

The World C(orr)up(t)