Qatar impress three years out from hosting 2022 World Cup

[wale1974]

Heliopolis Thank You. These Qataris are cheats. Most of these players have 0 ties to Qatar. They are simply buying up promising young talent and giving them citizenship meanwhile the migrant workers are slaves. Of course, FIFA does not care because of the oil$$ coming to their pockets.

I am shocked and totally disagreed with you here. Did you watch Russia 2018? The World Champion, France had players, born in France to almost all African immigrants. I don't see anything wrong with what the Qataris are doing here. Don't we have three players on our World cup team that were born and raised in Europe and trained by European coaches?

I swear the level of hypocrisy on the forum is something else..............It was okay for France but a problem for Qatar.

[bret- hart]

Heliopolis Thank You. These Qataris are cheats. Most of these players have 0 ties to Qatar. They are simply buying up promising young talent and giving them citizenship meanwhile the migrant workers are slaves. Of course FIFA does not care because of the oil$$ coming to thier pockets.

I am shocked and totally disagreed with you here. Did you watched Russia 2018? The World Champion, France had players, born in France to almost all African immigrants. I don't see anything wrong with what the Qataris are doing here. Don't we have three players on our World cup team that were born and raised in Europe and trained by European coaches?

Undertaker my brother what France and to some extent Naija do in terms of scouting talent is nothing compared to the 419 Qatar is currently doing. Those French players may have African roots but they are French. They were born and raised in France. Before they could say "dada" they were French citizens. Qatar OTOH have guys who have 0 ties to Qatar playing for the NT. They go all over Africa and the middle east and recruit players born and raised in their countries of birth, groom them in their academies and then entice them with citizenship. Mind you this is the same Qatar who have a lot of migrant workers who are never even afforded an opportunity of "naturalize'. A country that refuses to admit refugees in their country. So tell me how they all of a sudden have players from Sudan, Egypt, Algeria, Iraq etc playing for them? Sorry but this is not a national team but Qatar FC. They are making a mockery of the international game. My worry is that very soon young promising Nigerian players will start playing for Qatar as well. Shebi the likes of Uzoho and Onyekwuru used to train at Aspire? Its only a matter of time.

[bret- hart]

This team is full of mercenaries.

Victor Moses, William Troost-Ekong, Leon Balogun, Alex Iwobi

These guys have ties to Nigeria you moron. Some of them were even born in Nigeria stupid troll.
.

If they trained them since they were kids how do they have zero ties? They are simply reaping what they sowed.

No they are buying their success.

[Heliopolis]

Heliopolis Thank You. These Qataris are cheats. Most of these players have 0 ties to Qatar. They are simply buying up promising young talent and giving them citizenship meanwhile the migrant workers are slaves. Of course FIFA does not care because of the oil$$ coming to thier pockets.

I am shocked and totally disagreed with you here. Did you watched Russia 2018? The World Champion, France had players, born in France to almost all African immigrants. I don't see anything wrong with what the Qataris are doing here. Don't we have three players on our World cup team that were born and raised in Europe and trained by European coaches?

Those players are French. Born in France, nurtured in France, and with indisputable ties to that country. France did not shift the goal posts to make them French so they could play for the NT.

Qatar is operating like a football club. They are making a mockery of NT football by attracting players with money and then modifying their citizenship rules so that these foreign players become Qatari. I guess it wont be long before Qatar throws a ton of money at teenage prodigies overseas to convince them to play for their NT. Maybe the next Lionel Messi will be a Qatari NT player. Imagine if you are a young guy that came from nothing. No amount of patriotism is going to stop you from saying yes to a Qatari offer of say 10 million euros per year to play for their NT.

There is no basis for comparison between France and what other immigration nations have done and what Qatar (a country that does not have an immigration program) is doing to become relevant in football and other sports.

FIFA needs to put an end to this nonsense by revisiting its rules. Maybe it can come up with a rule that a player who is not a citizen of an NT must reside in that country for at least 3 years before playing for the NT. I would much rather do things this way than allow Qatar to scout around the world and pick and choose who it wants.

[slyk]

Heliopolis Thank You. These Qataris are cheats. Most of these players have 0 ties to Qatar. They are simply buying up promising young talent and giving them citizenship meanwhile the migrant workers are slaves. Of course FIFA does not care because of the oil$$ coming to thier pockets.

I am shocked and totally disagreed with you here. Did you watched Russia 2018? The World Champion, France had players, born in France to almost all African immigrants. I don't see anything wrong with what the Qataris are doing here. Don't we have three players on our World cup team that were born and raised in Europe and trained by European coaches?

Those players are French. Born in France, nurtured in France, and with indisputable ties to that country. France did not shift the goal posts to make them French so they could play for the NT.

Qatar is operating like a football club. They are making a mockery of NT football by attracting players with money and then modifying their citizenship rules so that these foreign players become Qatari. I guess it wont be long before Qatar throws a ton of money at teenage prodigies overseas to convince them to play for their NT. Maybe the next Lionel Messi will be a Qatari NT player. Imagine if you are a young guy that came from nothing. No amount of patriotism is going to stop you from saying yes to a Qatari offer of say 10 million euros per year to play for their NT.

There is no basis for comparison between France and what other immigration nations have done and what Qatar (a country that does not have an immigration program) is doing to become relevant in football and other sports.

FIFA needs to put an end to this nonsense by revisiting its rules. Maybe it can come up with a rule that a player who is not a citizen of an NT must reside in that country for at least 3 years before playing for the NT. I would much rather do things this way than allow Qatar to scout around the world and pick and choose who it wants.

Heliopolis is Egyptian. Bret Hart do you have any ties to Egypt or any of the other nations blockading Qatar? Just wondering.

The big news that you have obviously missed is not that the Qatar national team is composed by a large number of naturalized Qataris, it is that this group are products of a long term plan to groom young players for the national team. Afterall, Qatar has been naturalizing players for a long time and have not achieved any success till now.

What they have done is truly remarkable considering they were given no chance at the start, played in a hostile environment in the UAE with very little support from the stands (their citizens were barred from attending and people were threatened with fines and jail if they support qatar), scored the highest number of goals ever in the competition(18) and conceded the least amount of goals (1).

When the world cup was awarded to them nine years ago, they were criticized for not having any football pedigree but now, they will host the world cup as bona fide Asian champions and no one can take it away from them. Indeed, how many previous world cup hosts can boast of hosting the world cup at the same time as being the champions of their football federation. Kudos to them.

[Heliopolis]

Heliopolis Thank You. These Qataris are cheats. Most of these players have 0 ties to Qatar. They are simply buying up promising young talent and giving them citizenship meanwhile the migrant workers are slaves. Of course FIFA does not care because of the oil$$ coming to thier pockets.

I am shocked and totally disagreed with you here. Did you watched Russia 2018? The World Champion, France had players, born in France to almost all African immigrants. I don't see anything wrong with what the Qataris are doing here. Don't we have three players on our World cup team that were born and raised in Europe and trained by European coaches?

Those players are French. Born in France, nurtured in France, and with indisputable ties to that country. France did not shift the goal posts to make them French so they could play for the NT.

Qatar is operating like a football club. They are making a mockery of NT football by attracting players with money and then modifying their citizenship rules so that these foreign players become Qatari. I guess it wont be long before Qatar throws a ton of money at teenage prodigies overseas to convince them to play for their NT. Maybe the next Lionel Messi will be a Qatari NT player. Imagine if you are a young guy that came from nothing. No amount of patriotism is going to stop you from saying yes to a Qatari offer of say 10 million euros per year to play for their NT.

There is no basis for comparison between France and what other immigration nations have done and what Qatar (a country that does not have an immigration program) is doing to become relevant in football and other sports.

FIFA needs to put an end to this nonsense by revisiting its rules. Maybe it can come up with a rule that a player who is not a citizen of an NT must reside in that country for at least 3 years before playing for the NT. I would much rather do things this way than allow Qatar to scout around the world and pick and choose who it wants.

Heliopolis is Egyptian. Bret Hart do you have any ties to Egypt or any of the other nations blockading Qatar? Just wondering.

The big news that you have obviously missed is not that the Qatar national team is composed by a large number of naturalized Qataris, it is that this group are products of a long term plan to groom young players for the national team. Afterall, Qatar has been naturalizing players for a long time and have not achieved any success till now.

What they have done is truly remarkable considering they were given no chance at the start, played in a hostile environment in the UAE with very little support from the stands (their citizens were barred from attending and people were threatened with fines and jail if they support qatar), scored the highest number of goals ever in the competition(18) and conceded the least amount of goals (1).

When the world cup was awarded to them nine years ago, they were criticized for not having any football pedigree but now, they will host the world cup as bona fide Asian champions and no one can take it away from them. Indeed, how many previous world cup hosts can boast of hosting the world cup at the same time as being the champions of their football federation. Kudos to them.

You don't know anything about my political views.

Rather than jumping to conclusion how about we focus on the merits of each side's arguments?

[Novocaine]

You don't know anything about my political views.

Rather than jumping to conclusion how about we focus on the merits of each side's arguments?

OK lets focus on the merits. Qatar gave Egyptian/African citizens an opportunity to utilize their God given abilities to attain success on a global level and be able to take care of themselves and family. My question is why do you have a problem with that? You claim to love your country would you rather see these Egyptian citizens go begging on the streets of Cairo?

Rather than hating on Qatar's success that was achieved thru long term planning and hard work, Football Associations should be studying their program to see what aspects to incorporate into their system so they too can attain success.

[Novocaine]

My worry is that very soon young promising Nigerian players will start playing for Qatar as well. Shebi the likes of Uzoho and Onyekwuru used to train at Aspire? Its only a matter of time.

Pray tell why are you worried that Qatar will give Nigerian youths an opportunity that have been denied to them in their country. Would it not be great to see 22 Nigerians bringing global success to Qatar than have 1 of them joining Boko Haram.

Its not as if NFA is looking to scout and develop Nigerian youths like the Qatari's developed these players. After all its an open secret that the NFA is looking for ready made players from around the globe

You claim to love your country, so why do you hate to see Nigerian citizens achieve global success.

[slyk]

Heliopolis Thank You. These Qataris are cheats. Most of these players have 0 ties to Qatar. They are simply buying up promising young talent and giving them citizenship meanwhile the migrant workers are slaves. Of course FIFA does not care because of the oil$$ coming to thier pockets.

I am shocked and totally disagreed with you here. Did you watched Russia 2018? The World Champion, France had players, born in France to almost all African immigrants. I don't see anything wrong with what the Qataris are doing here. Don't we have three players on our World cup team that were born and raised in Europe and trained by European coaches?

Those players are French. Born in France, nurtured in France, and with indisputable ties to that country. France did not shift the goal posts to make them French so they could play for the NT.

Qatar is operating like a football club. They are making a mockery of NT football by attracting players with money and then modifying their citizenship rules so that these foreign players become Qatari. I guess it wont be long before Qatar throws a ton of money at teenage prodigies overseas to convince them to play for their NT. Maybe the next Lionel Messi will be a Qatari NT player. Imagine if you are a young guy that came from nothing. No amount of patriotism is going to stop you from saying yes to a Qatari offer of say 10 million euros per year to play for their NT.

There is no basis for comparison between France and what other immigration nations have done and what Qatar (a country that does not have an immigration program) is doing to become relevant in football and other sports.

FIFA needs to put an end to this nonsense by revisiting its rules. Maybe it can come up with a rule that a player who is not a citizen of an NT must reside in that country for at least 3 years before playing for the NT. I would much rather do things this way than allow Qatar to scout around the world and pick and choose who it wants.

Heliopolis is Egyptian. Bret Hart do you have any ties to Egypt or any of the other nations blockading Qatar? Just wondering.

The big news that you have obviously missed is not that the Qatar national team is composed by a large number of naturalized Qataris, it is that this group are products of a long term plan to groom young players for the national team. Afterall, Qatar has been naturalizing players for a long time and have not achieved any success till now.

What they have done is truly remarkable considering they were given no chance at the start, played in a hostile environment in the UAE with very little support from the stands (their citizens were barred from attending and people were threatened with fines and jail if they support qatar), scored the highest number of goals ever in the competition(18) and conceded the least amount of goals (1).

When the world cup was awarded to them nine years ago, they were criticized for not having any football pedigree but now, they will host the world cup as bona fide Asian champions and no one can take it away from them. Indeed, how many previous world cup hosts can boast of hosting the world cup at the same time as being the champions of their football federation. Kudos to them.

You don't know anything about my political views.

Rather than jumping to conclusion how about we focus on the merits of each side's arguments?

I only commented on your nationality, which you did not dispute and not your political views. The bulk of my post was about the merit or lack thereof of your argument.

[pajimoh]

The only question is the normal citizenship rules. If they qualify as Qatari then what's the problem? The Qataris have spent over $1b on training some of this footballers. That's a lot more tough than we spend building our Oyinbo wall, Victor Moses..... to name a few

[bret- hart]

The only question is the normal citizenship rules. If they qualify as Qatari then what's the problem? The Qataris have spent over $1b on training some of this footballers. That's a lot more tough than we spend building our Oyinbo wall, Victor Moses..... to name a few

If that is the case, Nigeria should be going to Sao Paolo and Rio to "naturalize" Brazilians to play for the Super Eagles afterall its our own laws. This is the international game not club football. How Qatar naturalizes these players needs to be scrutinized under a microscope by FIFA. The integrity of international football is at stake. If Qatar built this team with it foundation being natural born Qataris or foregn born Qataries with strong ties to Qatar then that fine but when they are naturalizing forign players on an industrial scale with no ties to Qatar for the sole intention of augmenting their NT, then thats a problem.

[bret- hart]

Heliopolis Thank You. These Qataris are cheats. Most of these players have 0 ties to Qatar. They are simply buying up promising young talent and giving them citizenship meanwhile the migrant workers are slaves. Of course FIFA does not care because of the oil$$ coming to thier pockets.

I am shocked and totally disagreed with you here. Did you watched Russia 2018? The World Champion, France had players, born in France to almost all African immigrants. I don't see anything wrong with what the Qataris are doing here. Don't we have three players on our World cup team that were born and raised in Europe and trained by European coaches?

Those players are French. Born in France, nurtured in France, and with indisputable ties to that country. France did not shift the goal posts to make them French so they could play for the NT.

Qatar is operating like a football club. They are making a mockery of NT football by attracting players with money and then modifying their citizenship rules so that these foreign players become Qatari. I guess it wont be long before Qatar throws a ton of money at teenage prodigies overseas to convince them to play for their NT. Maybe the next Lionel Messi will be a Qatari NT player. Imagine if you are a young guy that came from nothing. No amount of patriotism is going to stop you from saying yes to a Qatari offer of say 10 million euros per year to play for their NT.

There is no basis for comparison between France and what other immigration nations have done and what Qatar (a country that does not have an immigration program) is doing to become relevant in football and other sports.

FIFA needs to put an end to this nonsense by revisiting its rules. Maybe it can come up with a rule that a player who is not a citizen of an NT must reside in that country for at least 3 years before playing for the NT. I would much rather do things this way than allow Qatar to scout around the world and pick and choose who it wants.

Heliopolis is Egyptian. Bret Hart do you have any ties to Egypt or any of the other nations blockading Qatar? Just wondering.

The big news that you have obviously missed is not that the Qatar national team is composed by a large number of naturalized Qataris, it is that this group are products of a long term plan to groom young players for the national team. Afterall, Qatar has been naturalizing players for a long time and have not achieved any success till now.

What they have done is truly remarkable considering they were given no chance at the start, played in a hostile environment in the UAE with very little support from the stands (their citizens were barred from attending and people were threatened with fines and jail if they support qatar), scored the highest number of goals ever in the competition(18) and conceded the least amount of goals (1).

When the world cup was awarded to them nine years ago, they were criticized for not having any football pedigree but now, they will host the world cup as bona fide Asian champions and no one can take it away from them. Indeed, how many previous world cup hosts can boast of hosting the world cup at the same time as being the champions of their football federation. Kudos to them.

I actually admire the way Qatar has handled itself after the evil blockade imposed on it by its neighbors. But my issue has nothing to do with politics but rather everything to do with the integrity of the international game.

[Enugu II]

The only question is the normal citizenship rules. If they qualify as Qatari then what's the problem? The Qataris have spent over $1b on training some of this footballers. That's a lot more tough than we spend building our Oyinbo wall, Victor Moses..... to name a few

Pajimoh,

TBH, the highlighted is the major question. IMHO, some country will challenge FIFA one day on this very matter. FIFA (as well as IOC) has increasingly began to enthrone rules of citizenship that can be challenged.

FIFA started by determining which country you can play for even when you have dual citizenship and available to play for multiple countries. Heliopolis wrote about FIFA stepping in to stop the Qataris. This has already been done and for years now. Both IOC and FIFA have long setup rules that override a country's naturalization rules.