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Terrorist group Al-Qaeda has urged its Muslim brothers to steer clear of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. The organization, however, has not issued a direct threat.
SITE, a non-governmental, independent monitoring group of jihadist activity based in the United States, reported a statement from Al-Qaeda’s Yemen-based branch on Saturday, 19 November.
In that report, Al-Qaeda criticized Qatar for hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup, for “bringing immoral people, homosexuals, sowers of corruption and atheism into the Arabian Peninsula” (via Reuters). Additionally, Al-Qaeda claimed that the event diverted attention from the “occupation of Muslim countries and their oppression.”
Finally, it warned its Muslim brothers against attending the festivities in Qatar. The statement added:
“We warn our Muslim brothers from following this event or attending it.”
Qatar, which houses just over three million people, has assured its visitors about their safety over the course of the 2022 FIFA World Cup. It has been claimed that the country has trained over 50,000 people to provide adequate security during the month-long extravaganza.
Qatar make unwanted history in the FIFA World Cup opener against Ecuador
Following a spectacular opening ceremony, host country Qatar took to the field in their Group A opener against Ecuador on Sunday, 20 November. Fans, singing songs and waving the Qatari flag at the Al Bayt Stadium, expected their team to down the South American side. The hosts, however, spectacularly failed in their task, succumbing to a 2-0 defeat.
Ecuador refused to show any mercy to Qatar, keeping the pressure on from the first minute to the last. Their talisman Enner Valencia dispatched a penalty to open the scoring in the 16th minute. A minute past the half-hour mark, he doubled his tally, scoring a spectacular header to take the game away from the hosts.
Qatar had a few encouraging passages of play but lost their way every time they found themselves in the final third of the pitch. Over the course of the match, they attempted three shots, with none of them landing on target.
Qatar’s defeat in the FIFA World Cup opener was a historic one, as no host nation had ever lost its first match since the tournament’s inception in 1930.
