A Game of Double Standards

Qatar 2022: a World Cup that exposed football’s politics, power struggles and double standards.

Was the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 judged by different standards from other tournaments, before or since? When FIFA announced the decision, it made history — and triggered one of the fiercest controversies in modern sport. Allegations of corruption, political influence, worker abuse, cultural bias and media double standards followed the tournament for more than a decade. Through interviews with FIFA insiders, journalists, academics, activists, migrant workers and Qatari officials, A Game of Double Standards investigates how Qatar 2022 became a global battleground over power, image, and accountability. The film asks whether international scrutiny exposed legitimate concerns, or whether Qatar was judged by standards rarely applied to other hosts. Comparing Qatar with past tournaments in Europe, Russia, and China, it examines FIFA’s culture of secrecy, the politics of global sport, and the human cost behind football’s biggest event.