Football and Politics in the Gulf

This week on Hold Your Fire!, Richard is joined by Alan Boswell, Crisis Group’s Horn of Africa director, to discuss the fighting in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region and the risk of an all-out war between Ethiopia and Eritrea. They examine federal forces’ recapture of Tigray’s ca ...  Show more

This week on Hold Your Fire!, Richard speaks with Crisis Group’s Africa director Murithi Mutiga about renewed fighting in northern Ethiopia. They examine why the Pretoria agreement, which ended the devastating 2020–2022 war between Tigrayan rebels and the federal government, fail ...  Show more

Qatar’s decision to host the World Cup was mired in controversy from the start but ultimately seems to have paid off, bringing the tiny Gulf emirate new friends and winning over old enemies. Gideon talks to Simeon Kerr, the FT’s Gulf correspondent, about what motivates the emi ...

Soccer is sometimes called “the second religion of the Arab World,” and Qatar is the region’s first country to host the World Cup. But FIFA’s pick of the desert nation comes with boundless controversy. This episode was produced by Haleema Shah, edited by Amina Al-Sadi, fact-check ...  Show more

Qatar is in the spotlight as the host of this year’s World Cup — and the small, oil-rich nation has had to confront a lengthy human rights record with the world watching. The FT’s Gulf correspondent Simeon Kerr breaks down Qatar’s larger goals due to hosting the tournament, an ...

The World Cup is underway in Qatar, and it’s already contentious. Host Roy Wood Jr. sits down with Daily Show writer Joe Opio and sports journalist Grant Wahl to discuss how Qatar was awarded hosting privileges, the thousands of migrant workers who died while building whole citie ...  Show more