On Sunday, November 20, the most watched and most lucrative sports tournament on the planet begins in Qatar. For a month, the 2022 FIFA World Cup will capture the attention of audiences and dominate TV screens and daily discussions around the world.
A total of 64 matches will be played, including 48 in the group stage. And while all will be important, individual matches will add a certain spice to the tournament. Some for political reasons, others for pure football rivalry.
Radio Free Europe (RSE) has selected five games you must watch.
Qatar v Ecuador - 20 November
This is the opening game of arguably the most controversial World Cup ever, and special attention will be focused on the home nation, who will be making their first World Cup appearance. They will be eager to show off the eight gleaming new stadiums and all the state-of-the-art infrastructure that connects the venues in the small Gulf state.
But questions remain about the price in people that was paid to build it all.
Earlier this year, the Guardian reported that 6.500 migrant workers, mostly from South Asia, had died in the eleven years since Qatar was awarded the tournament, with many deaths said to be linked to working in poor conditions and extreme heat.
Some activists believe that number is even higher, and the UN's International Labor Organization (ILO) has said that the country inadequately investigated and reported deceased workers, and that autopsies were not routinely performed.
However, Qatar hit back by calling for the implementation of a minimum wage of $275 a month and the abolition of a sponsorship program called "Kafala", which many claimed was the basis of forced labour.
But there are other concerns ahead of the tournament.
Homosexuality in Qatar is punishable by up to three years in prison, while women's rights are limited. The manner in which the country was awarded the tournament back in 2010 was also questioned, due to numerous allegations of vote buying and bribery.
It's worth noting that 15 of the 22 members of FIFA's executive committee, which chose Qatar to host 12 years ago, have since faced criminal charges or been expelled from world football's governing body, including disgraced former FIFA president Sepp Blatter.
The question is how different teams will react to all this.
Recently, the current president of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, wrote a letter to all participating countries asking them to "focus on football", adding that this sport should not be "drawn into ideological or political battles".
Overtly political messages are not allowed, but that hasn't stopped some teams from wearing T-shirts with various human rights messages during warm-ups ahead of the tournament.
Denmark will play in "toned down" kit where the logo will not be clearly visible, as their kit supplier Hummel said they "did not want to be visible during a tournament that cost thousands of lives".
And when Qatar kicks off on Sunday, it will be against an Ecuador team that some believe shouldn't even have qualified for the tournament. At least that's what the football associations of Chile and Peru think, who finished behind Ecuador in the World Cup qualifiers in South America and missed out on their places in Qatar.
This question, which has been relevant for more than a year, concerns the Ecuadorian player Byron Castillo. Because the question is, is he a citizen of Ecuador?
Chile and Peru argue that he was actually born in Colombia in 1995, not in Ecuador in 1998 as his official document states, and that Ecuador should be deducted points for using a player during the qualifiers who is not actually a citizen.
The saga ended earlier this month when the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled that he was indeed born in Colombia in 1995, but because a player's nationality is defined by national law and Ecuador recognizes Castile as an Ecuadorian citizen, he could play for them, and Ecuador could get their place in the World Cup.
However, they received a slap in the face for using a document containing false information and the initial qualification for the next World Cup with the deduction of three points.
In the end, Ecuador did not select Castillo for the World Cup, most likely to play it safe in legal terms.
That's why it's safe to say that the first game of the World Cup will be surreal in many ways.
Spain v Germany - November 27
A heavyweight group stage clash between two football giants and their combined five World Cup victories. But it's also a game between two countries looking to give their best to win again after a few lean years of football.
Apart from possibly current world champions France, there are few countries that have defined and dominated this century like La Furia Roja (The Red Fury) and Die Mannschaft (The Team).
The former swept almost everything before them between 2008 and 2012, winning two consecutive European Championships and the 2010 World Cup with their passing and possession-oriented tika-taka style, while Germany ended Spain's dominance with their emphatic victory at the 2014 World Cup .
There are still a few players from those world-conquering teams, but these teams are now looking for a new identity and new ways to make themselves famous again.
And in what is likely to be the last World Cup for two of the greatest footballers of the 21st century – Argentina's Lionel Messi and Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo – the foreshadowing of future stars will be on full display when the Germans and Spaniards square off in Qatar.
Look out for teenage sensations Pedri (19) and Gavi (18) in Spain's midfield, while Jamal Musiala (19) and Yusuf Mukoko (17) will offer the Germans hope and excitement for further promotion.
Serbia vs. Switzerland - December 2
At first glance, this looks like a fairly ordinary match between two decent but rather unspectacular European teams.
But did you know that the two biggest Swiss stars - Granit Xhaka (who is the captain of the Swiss national team) and Xherdan Shaqiri are originally from Kosovo Albanians?
There's no doubt that this game will be a hot one, perhaps even more so considering that it's the last game in the group, which usually means it's all or nothing to make the playoffs.
There is, of course, the previous meeting: these two national teams met at the World Cup in Russia in 2018, in perhaps the most politically charged match of that tournament.
Šaćiri wore football boots with the Kosovo flag embroidered on them, and there were reports of anti-Albanian chants by Serbian fans wearing shirts of war criminal Ratko Mladić during the game.
Then Xhaka and Shaqiri played key roles, both scoring goals in a dramatic 2-1 victory. In one of the photos, both celebrated with a double-headed eagle gesture - imitating the national symbol of the Albanians with their hands, which Serbia considers "offensive".
FIFA fined both men 10.000 Swiss francs each for what they said was "unsportsmanlike conduct".
We should watch the "rematch" in Qatar, which will take place against the background of the recent tensions in the north of Kosovo.
Ghana v Uruguay - December 2
A few hours before the meeting between Serbia and Switzerland, another angry match is being played. But this one is completely related to football.
To understand the context, we have to go back to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa – the first ever held on the African continent. Most wanted an African team, any African team, to do well in the tournament.
After the hosts were already eliminated in the group stage, and other African nations faced the same bitter fate, the only team from the continent to remain in the play-offs was Ghana.
They defeated the USA after extra time in the Round of 1990, and then faced Uruguay in the quarterfinals. Despite producing some of the great individual players, often starring in European club football, no African team has progressed beyond the quarter-finals at the World Cup, the closest being Cameroon (2002) and Senegal (XNUMX).
But now, in Africa, the time had finally come for change.
The pulsating match ended 1-1 after 90 minutes. In the closing stages of half an hour extra time, the Black Stars - as they call the Ghanaian team - thought they were within reach of victory.
In a chaotic sequence, a player from Ghana headed the ball into a seemingly empty Uruguay net, and a Uruguayan outfielder saved it with his hand. The player? Luis Suarez. He received a red card, and the Black Stars received a penalty - with which their star striker Asamoah Gjan hit the crossbar.
Suarez, rather unsportsmanlike, celebrated the penalty as if he had won the World Cup. And he celebrated even more after Uruguay eventually won the game on penalties, claiming he had "saved the tournament".
Many called him "the most hated man in Africa".
Since then, Suarez has resembled football's favorite villain, combining extraordinary footballing moments with insane moves - for example, he served lengthy suspensions for biting (!) opponents on three separate occasions, and was also found guilty of faking, cheating and assault, so even racially abusing rival players.
Now, 12 years after that iconic game, the two teams face off again. And who is getting ready to play for Uruguay? Yes, Suarez, who is now 35 years old.
And by the way, no African team has made it past the quarter-finals yet.
Iran vs USA - November 29
The two nations, which have not faced each other since a revolution in 1979 toppled a pro-Western shah, will face off in the first World Cup to be held in the Arab world. And this at a time when diplomatic efforts to revive the Iran nuclear deal are faltering, the West is imposing sanctions because of Iran's military support for Russia for the war in Ukraine, and most of the world is in shock over the suppression of protests by girls and women by the regime in Tehran.
Some say that sports and politics don't mix, but for this game it's hard to imagine how they wouldn't. There is precedent here too, but we have to go back to the 1998 World Cup when they faced off in what was then dubbed the "mother of all games".
Back then, everything was carefully choreographed, supposedly the Iranian players were forbidden by the Ayatollah himself to approach the American team for the traditional handshake before the game, so the Americans approached instead, while the Iranians handed them white roses.
All 22 players then posed for a photo together. The match was uneventful and ended in a 2-1 victory for Iran, their first win at the World Cup.
A month later, they played a friendly match in America, and some claimed that the footballers achieved more in 90 minutes than diplomats had in decades.
This time, the tension will still be there, but the focus will be on how the Iranian team will respond to all the turmoil.
Some, including human rights activists, have called for them to be kicked out of the tournament entirely because of what is happening in the country, as has the Ukrainian Football Association because of Tehran's support for the Kremlin.
It is unlikely to happen. But watch out for signs among both players and spectators.
Some have called for stadiums to chant the name of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old who died in September while in police custody for wearing a headscarf.
In a show of defiance, only a handful of Iranian players sang the national anthem in their final pre-World Cup friendly against Nicaragua last week.
This is a game where political symbolism of all kinds will be hard to avoid.
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