The 2022 FIFA World Cup is held in Qatar, one of the most autocratic regimes in the world. Authoritarian regimes increasingly use major international sporting events to improve their international reputation and distract from human rights abuses. The project PAYOFF aims to show whether hosting “authoritarian games” influences public opinion abroad, and whether it pays off for authoritarian regimes to host a major sporting event like the 2022 World Cup to increase their legitimacy in the eyes of external audiences.
We fielded an online panel survey (repeated measures, within-subjects design) with three waves before (November), during (November/December) and after the FIFA World Cup (February/March) in eight European countries (Germany, Sweden, Italy, Great Britain, Croatia, Romania, Poland and Hungary). We trace and analyze respondents' attitudes towards Qatar over time. The study also includes several survey experiments.
