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Christianity in an Islamic Country. Religious Self-Depiction of Ibero-American Players During the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar
| Citace: |
GUTIÉRREZ-CHICO, F.; PULLEIRO MÉNDEZ, C.; ZÁKRAVSKÝ, J. Christianity in an Islamic Country. Religious Self-Depiction of Ibero-American Players During the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Porto, Portugalsko, 2024.Sport and Religion: Antiquity, Modernity and Contemporaneity.
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| Druh: | PŘEDNÁŠKA, POSTER |
| Jazyk publikace: | eng |
| Anglický název: | Christianity in an Islamic Country. Religious Self-Depiction of Ibero-American Players During the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar |
| Rok vydání: | 2024 |
| Místo konání: | Porto, Portugalsko |
| Autoři: | Fernando Gutiérrez-Chico , Carlos Pulleiro Méndez , PhDr. Jiří Zákravský Ph.D. |
| Abstrakt EN: | This paper focuses on the religious self-presentation of the footballers representing the 8 Ibero-American national teams during the 2022 FIFA World Cup hosted in Qatar. This was the first ever edition of the tournament hosted in the Middle East, by an Arab country and by an Islamic state. The event was surrounded by controversies before and by the time of its happening; namely corruption scandals around the awarding of the tournament and reports of systematic human rights violations in the country. Qatar, a small oil-and-gas-rich state, is categorised by many international institutions as an undemocratic regime. Thus, it has turned to sport as a way to improve its international image under the so-called ?sports-washing strategy?. All this has been surrounded by power relations between the Gulf state and the football governing body in order to redefine certain conditions in and around the tournament. Whilst messages and measures concerning political and management aspects echoed on FIFA, the Qatari government and western media, a different degree of attention seemed to be put on social-cultural ones. Even when the local government banned the selling of alcohol inside the stadiums, hence modifying an existing agreement in order to adapt the structural conditions of the event to its local religious particularities. It is within this framework where we inquire about the role displayed by the footballers of the 8 Ibero-American national teams who took part in the tournament. Ibero-America is a political, social and cultural region where Christianity is the dominant faith in its various branches. Consequently, we have set up the following research questions: How did Ibero-American players self-depict in religious terms throughout the tournament? How relevant was religion for these players during the World Cup? Did their messages include any inter-faith connotation? The methodology is based on a content analysis of the social media activity (Twitter and Instagram) of the 26 players and the head coaches of the national of Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Ecuador, Mexico and Costa Rica. The research period was from November 19 to December 19, 2022, that is, from the day before the official kick-off of the World Cup up to one day after the final match. The posts of each participant were collected even when the national team no longer continued in the competition after being knocked-out. An overall of 2,173 posts were collected. Results, which at the moment of this writing are still in a preliminary status, show deep imbalances between national teams. Christianity dominated the religious references of the players, who posted about their faith as part of their personal identities. Interfaith discourses do not appear. The fact of Qatar being an Islamic state does not play a setback for the self-depiction of the footballers, thus showing a plurality of voices and narratives that do not seem to occur in other spheres, mainly politically. |
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