Case study: What's the best (kept) secret about FIFA's 2022 World Cup™? The case of Qatar's Generation Amazing program

It has long been recognized that sport, as a grassroots and elite movement, facilitates the “development process” in various ways (Levermore, 2011). As Nicholson and Hoye (2008) explain in their book, sport plays an important role in peace-building, development, crime prevention, health promotion, gender empowerment and community building. Additionally, Thomas and Smith (2009) cite numerous arguments about how sport can become an important part of the reintegration and social integration processes for people with disabilities, whereas Zwahlen et al. (2018) emphasize that sport has a significant impact on immigrants as well as people from non-privileged backgrounds. At the same time, however, we should not disregard the problematic aspects of sport as an individual and social activity, let alone consider it to be a “magic elixir” (Inoue et al., 2011) or a panacea for all social ills (Kaplanidou, 2021). Coalter (2007), for instance, has been critical by highlighting the ineffectiveness of sport programs aimed at rebuilding communities, preventing and reducing social violence and educating and training young people.