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PA via Reuters Recently arrived Afghan citizens take part in a cricket match with members of Newport Pagnell Town Cricket Club in Buckinghamshire, organised by the club as a gesture to welcome them to the UK.
If the Taliban builds a cricket stadium, will the world come?
The Taliban – which likes to use stadiums for public executions – now has ambitious plans to build a cutting-edge new sports facility for something else: cricket.
Afghanistan is cricket-crazy. Their underdog team pulled off a series of upsets at last year’s world cup – a momentary distraction from the country’s withering economic crisis. And although the squad still plays under the flag of the US-backed pre-Taliban government, they have powerful fans in Kabul – including Anas Haqqani, a Taliban official associated with a notorious terrorist group bearing his name – who provide political cover.
For the men’s team, at least. Most of the national women’s cricket team fled to Australia after the Taliban banned women from virtually all forms of self-expression, education, and public life.
Australia initially refused to face Afghanistan because of the Taliban’s abuse of women, but relented to play in the World Cup. The Taliban’s bet is that others will fold too and the men’s team’s glory will reflect well on the regime, both at home and abroad.
As it happens, a Daily writer saw the Afghan team in action just days ago during its recent tour of Sri Lanka. Although they lost badly, Pallekele Stadium was packed to see the rogue state’s squad on the pitch.
Hinata Miyazawa (2nd from L) of Japan celebrates with teammates after scoring her team's third goal in the first half of a Women's World Cup
Women’s world cup: New faces defy expectations
Four years ago, FIFA expanded the Women’s World Cup from 24 to 32 teams, putting it on par with the men’s tournament. And as this year's tournament enters the knockout round of 16, it's clear that the move to capitalize on women’s soccer’s momentum is paying off.
When the World Cup kicked off in Australia and New Zealand, the US was expected to come home with its third consecutive title. But the wider playing field has amped up the competition, forcing established teams like the US to work harder while giving new teams a decent chance of winning it all.
This World Cup has “defied most people’s expectations both in terms of quality of play and, significantly, that there is no longer a yawning gap between the best countries in the world and everyone else,” says Dr. Lindsay Krasnoff, professor of sports diplomacy and author of “Basketball Empire: France and the Making of a Global NBA and WNBA.”
Almost all of the games have been close, with no shortage of nail-biters and upsets for the record-setting 6.43 million people who tuned in to watch the first stage of the tournament.
The defending US champs barely squeaked through to the knockout round after tying 0-0 with Portugal, and Colombia narrowly defeated Germany in the final minute. Meanwhile, the Philippines – one of eight teams making their World Cup debut this year – beat New Zealand on its own soil.
The expansion of the Women’s World Cup has given teams that otherwise wouldn’t have qualified global exposure. For Krasnoff, this is even more important than winning.
“Even though Vietnam or the Philippines are going home after the first round, they’ve not only put on a show and scored on the world stage, but their success will stimulate interest back home and break some of the stereotypes and barriers that still exist.”
Will it lead to pay parity? In 2019, players at the Women’s World Cup got less than eight cents per dollar earned by men at their tournament. This year, that’s up to 25 cents on the dollar.
Krasnoff expects record viewership this year to translate into even more girls and women wanting to play soccer globally and higher ticker sales, which will generate even more excitement – and hopefully higher pay for players – in 2027’s tourney.
Morocco line-up during the 2022 FIFA World Cup quarterfinal match against Portugal in Doha, Qatar.
What’s it worth to crush it at the World Cup?
Whether or not underdog Morocco beats France in the World Cup semifinals on Wednesday, one thing is sure: Becoming the first African or Arab nation to get this far in the biggest sporting event on the planet stands to get Morocco more than on-field glory in Qatar.
The Atlas Lions probably didn't expect to have such an amazing run, but their overperformance is no coincidence. It’s the fruit of decades of heavy investment by the kingdom in developing its players as part of Morocco’s broader sports diplomacy.
Hold up. What is sports diplomacy? It’s “when the acts of diplomacy — communication, representation, and negotiation — intersect with the sports world, whether it's in the arena or outside of it," says Lindsay Sarah Krasnoff, who knows a thing or two about sports diplomacy because she teaches it at NYU.
It can be formal, when carried out by governments or by an athlete representing a country, or informal — like the privately-run NBA’s push to make basketball a global game. But the objective is always the same: to get your country or sport noticed so you can "sell" it to the world.
Although success in sports ≠ success in politics, it does boost a national brand. A good example is Croatia, a country of less than 4 million that's only been independent for 30 years. Four years ago, it’s often said that France won the World Cup but Croatia won the hearts of fans around the world by making it all the way to the final of the tournament in Russia.
Its fairytale run put Croatia on everyone’s radar. According to one study, during the 2018 tournament visits to the tourism website soared by 250% — a big deal for a nation that makes 20% of its GDP from foreign visitors.
Symbolism matters, too. Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, Croatia's president at the time, went all in on showing her support for the national team in Russia. She won global praise for traveling in economy class with fans, gifting world leaders with customized jerseys, and braving a downpour to comfort the players after losing to France in Moscow. The president made her country look cool — exactly what you want to promote foreign investment and tourism.
(Unfortunately for Grabar-Kitarović, she became more famous abroad than popular with Croatian voters, narrowly losing re-election in 2020.)
Morocco is the Croatia of 2022. "It's fair to say there will be a marginal soft power benefit for Morocco. Their winning streak has generated a lot of excitement," says Eurasia Group analyst Sofia Meranto. "The Arab world and African spectators are united in backing them, and leaders across the region were quick to express their joy at the team making the semifinals. Many other fans now also see the Atlas Lions as the favored underdog."
The government is eager to cash in on the team's success to get the most bang for its sports diplomacy buck. A clear sign is the slick video from the Moroccan tourism board dominating halftime TV ads during the tournament across Europe.
This is a unique opportunity for Morocco to showcase itself to tourists. Before COVID, the country welcomed almost 20 million of them, with tourism accounting for more than 10% of GDP and 17% of the Moroccan workforce. The sector has recovered, but only at 80% of pre-pandemic levels — so Morocco would certainly appreciate a World Cup bump to get its tourism groove back ... and maybe even further develop its cash cow.
"It's great to make an imprint, but you want to do more than just enter the history books," Krasnoff explains. "You want to sustain that in order to get the maximum mileage out of your investment."
But investing in sports diplomacy can also backfire. Over a decade ago, Qatar not only spent big to secure the right to host the World Cup but also launched BeIN, a global sports channel under the Al-Jazeera network, and purchased French soccer club PSG.
Since then, the Qataris have gotten blowback over the alleged bribes involved in their bid as well as their dodgy human rights record. BeIN has lost the rights to air many top competitions, and traditional European fans have soured on PSG for being nouveau riche. Money might lure mega-stars like Leo Messi to Paris, but it won’t buy the respect of romantics who just love the Beautiful Game.
So, who'll win the sports diplomacy World Cup in 2022? The stakes are very different for the host country and Morocco.
Off the pitch, uber-rich and regional soft power heavyweight Qatar can claim credit for organizing the World Cup that featured the best-ever run for an Arab team. It’s too soon to say whether the tournament put a dent in the country’s global standing or rather delivered precisely what the Qataris hoped for: lots of attention and future partnerships.
But on the pitch, less affluent and influential Morocco has captured the imagination of Arab and non-Arab fans alike — with none of Qatar’s political baggage.