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The Effects That Hosting the World Cup Has on a Country

Updated: Nov 5

Football – or for my fellow Americans, soccer – is the most popular sport throughout the world having around 3.5 billion fans around the world watching the different world leagues (World Population Review). The World Cup is an event that takes place in a host country where the national team of each country that qualifies plays against each other until there is a winner. Because of Covid, the World Cup is being hosted in the fall rather than the summer which has made things differently. This year the host country is Qatar, and it is expected to have 5 billion viewers (Kretser). While many people are excited to go back to the familiar setting of cheering on your country’s team while supporting them in unity, the World Cup has brought up many challenges regarding the economy and society of different host countries.


Back in 2014, one of the biggest countries known for its football team decided to host that year's World Cup event. Brazil has won 5 World Cups since it first started and has produced many football legends like Neymar, Pelé, and Ronaldinho. However, the decision to host the World Cup by governmental officials proved to be dangerous both economically and environmentally. Declan McKenna wrote a song called “Brazil” in 2017. Mckenna navigates through ideas of corruption, high society, and economic inequality through a catchy rhythm and poetic techniques to highlight the truth behind the issues that events like the World Cup can have on developing countries.


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Analysis of “Brazil” by Declan Mckenna


Written and produced as an explicitly happy song, the meaning being Declan McKenna’s lyrics are a lot darker than what the uplifting sound show. The song navigates the themes of political and economic corruption after the country of Brazil decided to host the 2014 FIFA World Cup. McKenna criticizes the decision of hosting the games in a country where social inequality was currently one of the biggest problems that Brazil had to face. McKenna uses symbolism, poetic techniques like enjambment, and the repetition of a question to implicitly show how the wealthy population looks the other way when it comes to their entertainment and their need to become richer through the exploitation of the lower class.


In Verse 1, McKenna starts the song with “I heard you sold the Amazon to show the country that you’re from” making a connection with the Amazon Forest which is the largest tropical rainforest in the world. He uses hyperbole in this verse to show that the Brazilian government spent the money that could have been used to help the communities that are currently lacking basic human resources by comparing it to selling the Amazon which resides and is one of their greatest resources of economic development. Later in the verse, he uses enjambment to show how much this investment in the world cup cost to the people that were displaced in order for renovations to occur: “But the people are dying to, to get on TV” (McKenna 1:22). He compares the two communities that were affected by this by showing how the lower class were dying while the upper class only cared to be on TV through the use of enjambment. The problems that each community faced were highly different because one was about survival while the other only cared about their 5 minutes of fame. Verse 2 changes in tone as McKenna becomes angrier at the fact that this is occurring to the common people. The juxtaposition between the two verses simulates the 5 stages of grief by starting with denial and then anger towards the people that caused this to happen and even himself.


The bridge includes a repetition of the sentence “I wanna play the beautiful game while I’m in Brazil” alluding to the nickname for football made popular by one of Brazil’s own football players, Pelé. Although hosting the World Cup in Brazil caused a lot of problems, Football is known to be the most popular sport in Brazil because of the passion that everyone, even the lower class, has for their team. But even this passion does not hide the fact the wealthiest people in Brazil turned a blind eye to all the instability that this game caused. In the chorus, McKenna makes a symbolic reference to someone with so much money that they even have a grizzly bear. He also makes a supernatural reference saying that all this power and wealth makes him seem like an angel when in reality, he is a common person exploiting and doing horrible things to a community that needed actual help.


The Before and Aftermath of Hosting the World Cup in Brazil


In 2013, a year before the World Cup in Brazil happened, protestors in several Brazilian cities fought against the income inequality that had been plaguing their citizens. Hosting the World Cup in Brazil increased public dissent, as Kathryn Cassibry writes: “Brazil’s rampant political corruption has resulted in huge expenditures. The government has spent twice the amount as Germany and South Africa spent on the World Cup” (Cassibry).


In order to host the World Cup, Brazil’s responsibilities included using an estimated expenditure of US$3.6 billion of taxpayer money but this led to many ethical controversies on the government's use of this money as well as how it would affect the Brazilian citizens. The ethical concerns about hosting the World Cup are one of the main reasons that Declan Mckenna produced the song. The government’s responsibilities as the host country meant building stadiums but the construction cost exceeded the original budget. This also led to concerns that the construction of these stadiums would create a “white elephant” as many cities did not have the need for stadiums which will fail to generate revenue. Lastly, there was a social cost to Brazilians living in those areas: “The construction of stadiums, the upgrading of accommodation facilities for tourists and national delegations, and the creation of urban transportation facilities came at immense social costs to Brazilian citizens. Those suffering from poverty were most affected by the social displacement caused by the evacuation of favelas and other public housing facilities” (Mitra).


Economic inequality has affected many people. Brazil hosting the World Cup is one of the biggest examples of governments and the higher class using their selfish interest instead of the population as a whole. Economic inequality can be defined as “the unequal distribution of income and opportunity between different groups in society” (World of Labor). This issue arises in almost all countries making it harder for people in poverty to move up in economic classes. This inequality is caused by many events, whether that be a pandemic, or a country exceeding in the budget to host an event they can not afford. However, the fight against economic inequality continues as more people realize the negative effects it has on society.


Solutions to Fight Economic Inequality


While the economy is heavily influenced by government policies, researching solutions that the government and lawmakers can implement is a great way to learn and advocate for these solutions. Jared Bernstein addresses these issues by finding 10 solutions to fight economic inequality:


  1. “The government must become the employer of last resort;

  2. Apply fiscal and monetary policies aggressively to achieve full employment;

  3. Take actions against countries that manage their currencies to subsidize their exports to us and tax our exports to them;

  4. Support sectoral training, apprenticeships, and earn-while-you-learn programs;

  5. Implement universal pre-k;

  6. Raise the minimum wage […] and the overtime salary threshold;

  7. Provide better oversight of financial markets;

  8. Level the playing field for union elections;

  9. Maintain and strengthen safety net programs;

  10. Generate needed revenue and boost tax fairness”


For more solutions, check Bernstein’s article as other authors in the article opinionate their own ideas for solutions to fight economic inequality: https://talkpoverty.org/2015/06/10/solutions-economic-inequality/.



Works Cited

Kretser, Leela De. “Qatar World Cup Audience Projected at 5 Billion, Says FIFA Boss.” Qatar World Cup Audience Projected at 5 Billion, https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2022-05-23/davos-qatars-world-cup-audience-projected-to-be-5-billion-fifa-boss.

Holcomb, Leland. “Declan McKenna – Brazil.” Society of Sound Media, Society of Sound Media, 16 Dec. 2020, https://sosmusicmedia.com/music-that-matters/2017/10/27/declan-mckenna-brazil.

Cassibry, Kathryn. “Income Inequality, Brazil, & World Cup.” The Borgen Project, Borgen Project Https://Borgenproject.org/Wp-Content/Uploads/The_Borgen_Project_Logo_small.Jpg, 10 Nov. 2016, https://borgenproject.org/is-income-inequality-turning-brazil-against-the-world-cup/.

Mitra, Arjyo. “An Ethical Analysis of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.” Seven Pillars Institute, 8 Sept. 2014, https://sevenpillarsinstitute.org/ethical-analysis-of-the-2014-fifa-world-cup-brazil/.

McKenna, Declan. “Brazil.” Spotify.

Bernstein, Jared, et al. “10 Solutions to Fight Economic Inequality.” Talk Poverty, 5 Mar. 2018, https://talkpoverty.org/2015/06/10/solutions-economic-inequality/.


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