A report that examines the cultural attributes of the country of Uruguay in relation to hosting the 2030 FIFA World Cup – Assignment 3 ADV20001.

1. Uruguay &
the 2030 FIFA
World Cup
A report that examines the cultural attributes of the country of Uruguay in relation to hosting the
2030 FIFA World Cup – Assignment 3 ADV20001.
By Gabriel Colgan-Zito,
Simon Foley, Ting-Yu Lu,
Duong Thao An Nguyen
& Xavier Ventura

2. 1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction................................................................................................ 2
Position & Treatment of Women............................................................... 3
Inaquality of Workforce............................................................................. 5
Stereotypes.................................................................................................. 7
Treatment of Immigrants, Foreigners and Tourists............................... 10
Attitude Towards the Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans, Queer (LGBTQ)
Community............................................................................................... 13
Conclusion................................................................................................ 15
References: ............................................................................................... 16

3. 2
INTRODUCTION
Arguably the most watched sporting event in the
world (Wong 2013, p. 144), the FIFA World Cup
emerges every four years (Encyclopaedia Britannica
2020) to celebrate the shared passion for football
amongst the diverse cultures around the globe. In
1930, Uruguay became the inaugural host (Marinau
et al. 2016, p. 81) for an event that later became a
worldwide tradition.
To celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the FIFA
World Cup, a return to its origins in Uruguay is
proposed as an ideal host for the 2030 tournament.
To consider a country suitable to host an event at a
global scale, a review of their cultural values is
important when several other cultures are involved.
An investigation of Uruguay’s values is provided, in
particular, the treatment and attitudes towards
minorities in both social and economic environments.
Their developments/trends over the past will be explored as an indication
of Uruguay’s willingness for progression and a basis for a predicted
insight of the country in 2030. Finally, evaluations are implemented
towards how Uruguay’s cultural values will be interpreted by other
cultures in the FIFA World Cup setting.

4. 3
POSITION & TREATMENT OF WOMEN
The presentation of women in society is one of the important aspects while analysing a
country’s culture. This section describes the position of Uruguayan women in the history
and points out the changes through time.
In the past, there was an obvious gap between the positions of women and men in the
society. According to Noriega (2020), women are unlikely to be presented in the record
before 1900. The gap in genders results in the small numbers of female iconises in history.
In this period, the position of women and their impact on the important decision is likely
to be insignificant.
After 1900, there was a new positive thought towards women’s position due to the wave
of immigrants from Euro (Ehrick 2017, p.2). In the 19th
and 20th
century, the spread of new
opinions toward policy and conceptions toward ‘Free Love’ brought a strong influence on
the traditional thoughts. Feminism ideas become more open with the more
understanding of women’s oppression. The social changes in the 20th
century is
considered as the turning-point of Uruguayan women’s position. One of those positive

5. 4
changes is that Uruguay is the first country which has the first women chamber among
the America Latin Countries in 1963 (ECLAC 2007, p.40). The changes build the foundation
for the development of feminism campaigns these days.
Nowadays, understanding the important contribution of women, Uruguay has taken a
number of practical actions in reducing the gender gap, empowering and protecting
Women in terms of health aspect and political aspect. The policies aimfor giving women
the capability of taking control over their lives. Contributing to government efforts, the
new policies toward women rights, namely marriage equality in 2013, are applied in order
to build the progressive norms in society. In addition, Uruguay is also the only country in
the region that enforces the full reproductive rights for women. As a result, the efforts of
the Uruguay government have brought a number of positive changes toward women’
rights and women’s status in the community.
The percentage of female ministers has registered an increase in recent years (ECLAC
2007, p.50). Uruguay has attempted to boost the role of women in terms of decision
making gradually. The Uruguay government has attempted to reach 33% of women in the
2 chambers (Cariboni 2014). The positive improvements bring Uruguay as the winner of
the America Quarterly Social Inclusion Index for the 3rd
time consecutively (Tummino &
Bintrim 2016). With the recent exertion of the Uruguay government and their
achievement in affirming the position of women in the community, these movements are
contributing to inspiring other countries which are engaging in narrowing the gender gap
and boosting women's position.

6. 5
INAQUALITY OF WORKFORCE
Uruguay’s egalitarian position is reflected upon the country’s efforts in providing non-
discriminatory workplace opportunities for its people, particularly towards gender
equality and safety within the workforce. Throughout the 20th century, Uruguay had
endorsed several International Labour Conventions, in which aids in regulating workplace
opportunities and conditions, such as equal pay in 1953, maternity protection and rights
to organise collective bargaining in 1954, and the outlaw of discrimination towards
people based on race, colour, sex, religion, and political opinion in 1989 (Espino & Pedetti
2012, p. 38).
In 2016, South American countries were ranked by Americas Quarterly according to their
social inclusion performance. Not only did scores indicate that Uruguay achieved number-
one ranking in the third consecutive year, but also marks Uruguay as a pioneer in regard
to providing equal opportunities toward diverse genders and races in the acquisition of
formal occupations (Tummino & Bintrim 2016, p. 2 & 7). Majority of Uruguayans have
access to a steady source of income, to such a degree that according to The World Bank,
Uruguay’s middle class is the largest in the region, approximating at 60% of their
population, and extreme poverty is reported to be near absent (2019).
Uruguay, however, does not represent a utopia rid of inequality. Female workers
continue to experience disadvantages in pay and workplace opportunities. Currently,
women are 26% less likely to obtain the same pay and opportunities that are bestowed to
the men (Pasquali 2020). None-the-less, Uruguay has shown steady improvements these
last four years in narrowing the pay gap (Pasquali 2020).
To this day, Uruguay continues to improve their workplace conditions. According to
IndustriALL Global Union, on the 17th of December 2020 Uruguay became “…the first

7. 6
country in the world to ratify the International Labour Organization's Convention 190”
(2020). The convention recognises any unacceptable behaviours and practices, resulting
in physical, psychological, sexual, or economic harm, as threats to not just basic human
rights, but also the establishment of equal opportunity within the workplace. Uruguay has
committed to take necessary steps to promote safe and fair working conditions, and
integrate gender-responsive approaches that aid in transforming the workplace into an
environment free from violence and harassment.
Uruguay’s current workplace
conditions, and continued efforts
towards achieving a fair and safe
environment for all its people, will
be a welcome position amongst
international perspectives, especially
towards those also living in a
democratic and egalitarian societies.
Unlike the issues surrounding the
abusive work conditions within the upcoming World Cup preparations in Qatar (Liew
2017), the world can rest assured Uruguayans will be provided with ethical circumstances
in preparing for 2030’s World Cup. These conditions present a desirable environment for
those occupations contributing towards the preparation and coordination of the event, as
well as for those - local or international - seeking exciting volunteering experiences before
and during the event. This further increases the quantity of interests in participating in
the event’s organisation. The more people show their willingness to contribute, the
better the chance in achieving a smooth and successful World Cup event, thus,
reinforcing Uruguay as an ideal host for a global event.

8. 7
STEREOTYPES
Football has a rich history in Uruguay. It stands as the most popular sport in the country,
and with the consistent success of the national team, it is easy to see why. As of 9th April
2020, the Uruguay men’s football team is ranked 5th in the world in the Official FIFA
rankings. The nation has won the World Cup twice, in 1930 and 1950, the former of which
Uruguay hosted, and was the first ever world cup held. Uruguay has also won the Copa
America 15 times in its 104-year history, more than any other South American team to
participate. They have also notably placed in the top four of the Copa America every year,
except for 1993 and 2015. Such success on the international stage has meant that “the
international relevance of Uruguayan football transformed it, as a social phenomenon,
into much more than just a sporting competition. The performance in the game became
associated with the fate of the country and its international acknowledgement.” (Revelez
2018, pg. 558)
Locally, the premier football competition is the Liga Profesional de Primera División,
which translates to “First Division Professional League” in English. The league was first
established in 1900 as an amateur league, before becoming professional in 1932. The
league consists of 16 teams, with bottom finishing teams facing relegation at the end of
the season. The two historically dominant teams in the competition are Peñarol and
Nacional, both based in the country’s capital Montevideo. The great rivalry between
these two teams is charcterised by “both their interpretations of their history and the
image they portray,” and has come to “define the bases on which Uruguayan football is
structured. That same history depicts their institutional differences and serves to model
each team’s image and determine their social bases.” (Revelez 2018, pg. 561) Great
controversy surrounding the continuity of Penarol and multipurpose club Central Uruguay
Railway Cricket Club (CURCC) is the hallmark of this rivalry. CURCC was established in
1891 and featured a football team that competed in the national league, but by 1913, the
club opted to dissolve the football section. The remnants of this football section went on
to form Penarol, which replaced CURCC in the Uruguayan league the next year. This

9. 8
dispute is not only an issue of championships won, but also one of identity, as “allows
Peñarol to claimthis working-class origin as its own, when 118 employees founded the
CURCC in the railway workshops back in 1891.” (Revelez 2018, pg. 562) Identity
associated with both teams is more than just local sporting culture, as it serves to
highlight the social and genetic makeup of the nation. Penarol is generally “associated
with the “gringos” and the common people,” (Revelez 2018, pg. 563) and its followers
“came from Italian origin, were working class and lived in the cities.” (Revelez 2018, pg.
563) On the other hand, Nacional is linked “to the local traditional culture (America’s first
creole team),” (Revelez 2018, pg. 563) and “got most of its followers from Spanish
immigration, among merchants and from rural areas (mostly outside Montevideo).”
(Revelez 2018, pg. 563)
Aside from football, national attitudes and predispositions can be observed through the
use of the Hofstede model. Cultural models are used to “define patterns of basic
problems that have consequences for the functioning of groups and individuals,” (de
Mooij and Hofstede 2010, pg. 87), and prove very useful for advertising research. What
makes the Hofstede model particularly useful is the “large number of countries measured
and the simplicity of his dimensions, which are straightforward and appealing to both
academic researchers and businesspeople.” (de Mooij and Hofstede 2010, pg. 87 – 88)
The Hofstede model assesses cultures based on 5 dimensions: power distance,
individualism/collectivism, masculinity/femininity, uncertainty avoidance, and long
term/short term orientation. Each of these dimensions is scaled from 0 to 100.

10. 9
Where Uruguay is potentially problematic is the high score on Uncertainty Avoidance,
which measures “‘the extent to which people feel threatened by uncertainty and
ambiguity and try to avoid these situations.” (De Mooij and Hofstede 2010, pg. 89)
Hosting a World Cup will bring tourists from all around the globe to Uruguay, and a
certain culture clash for locals. This score of 98 suggests that the locals may not be so
welcoming for these tourists. This sentiment is also inferred with its score in Long Term
Orientation which can be defined as “the extent to which a society exhibits a pragmatic
future-orientated perspective rather than a conventional historic or short-term point of
view’.” (De Mooij and Hofestede 2010, pg. 90) The score here suggests that Uruguay is a
more normative society, and will cling to its own traditions and beliefs, and view any
difference with suspicion. While this could seemconcerning, the importance of football in
Uruguayan culture is so significant that it would almost certainly outweigh culture
clashes. Other nationalities that share the same love of football would fit in well in
Uruguay.

11. 10
TREATMENT OF IMMIGRANTS, FOREIGNERS AND TOURISTS
Understanding how a nation opens up its borders and receives foreign internationals is a
strong indicator of the culture and character reflected throughout the country’s
population. In respect to hosting a televised, international event on a grand scale such as
the FIFA World Cup, it is of the utmost importance that the proposed host country is
willing to host different peoples from different cultures and different religions. In this
respect, we believe that Uruguay is exceptionally well-suited for such a task due to
several factors; much of its population has immigrant heritage, the country is largely
dependent on tourism from international travellers to generate its economy and the
nation’s cultural obsession with football provides an open-mindedness that only sport can
create.
A common image of Uruguay that many internationals have is of a “homogenous and
Europeanised country built by immigrants from Spain and Italy” (Arocena 2008, p. 1).
Between the years 1850 and 1930, these two nationalities made up roughly 70% of all
European immigration into Uruguay (Goebel 2010, p. 3) – an influx of immigrants from
much of Europe occurred between World War One and World War Two, and in more
recent times, immigrants have arrived to the country from Asia and the Middle East. As
such, the laws and immigration
framework in Uruguay are fairly
lenient; people with permanent or
temporary residence can enter and
leave the country as many times as
they wish and citizens from any
country part of the Organisation for
Economic Co-Operation and
Development do not require a visa
to enter Uruguay (Formento 2019).

12. 11
In respect to hosting the FIFA 2030 World Cup, not requiring a visa will help facilitate the
ease of travel for fans and spectators wishing to attend the event.
As Uruguay is one of the smallest countries in South America both in terms of its size and
population – as mentioned previously in the report, it has a population of almost 3 and a
half million in an area 51 thousand square kilometres smaller than Victoria – the nation
lacks the necessity of having a large workforce; as previously noted within this report,
60% of the country’s population is classified as middle class. Therefore, Uruguay relies
heavily upon its tourism industry, and as Dabezies notes more specifically that of its
beach tourism as “a process that articulates tropical and traditional arguments,
promoting undulated, local features over rectilinear, global ones (2020, pg. 1). Thanks to
its stunning eastern-coastline front, its environmentally-deep natural rainforests and its
two UNESCO World Heritage Listed sites, we believe that Uruguay’s tourism industry is
certainly strong enough to give serious and amateur soccer fans a reason to attend the
FIFA World Cup.
Lastly, Uruguay’s love and passion for the sport of soccer is another reason in which we
believe that those wishing to attend the World Cup internationally will be more than
welcomed to the country. In his paper, March Krotee notes how the sport is so revered;
“It is almost a religion, a
collective gathering
where symbolic dialogue
reinforces the values of
society and a way of life.
The soccer pitch
transcends a playing field
and serves as a proving
ground of sociocultural
heritage and

13. 12
nationalistic pride. Furthermore, soccer has become a vehicle to communicate, express,
reflect, and sometimes preserve a way of life (Krotee 1979, pg. 2-3).”
Due to the national love of the sport, we believe that international fans wishing to travel
to Uruguay to support their country and team will be openly welcomed as fellow
contestants - a shared bond through mutual sporting respect.

14. 13
ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE LESBIAN, GAY, BI, TRANS, QUEER
(LGBTQ) COMMUNITY
Before embracing the LGBT communities, stereotypical conception with gay/lesbian rights
used to be very commonplace in Uruguay’s society, as the love/sexual relationships
toward same-sex couple/marriage were forbidden by law which could result in punish act
(Goldani & Denia 2013). With the collectivist culture, the cultural relativismdid foster
Uruguayan to be cohesive and misinterpreted LGBT concepts. Additionally, the culture of
being heterometric also inhibited Uruguayan’s attitude to identify themselves as
gay/lesbian (Goldani & Denia 2013).
However, after the
separation occurred in
1917 between church
and state, compared to
other Latin American
countries, religious values
became less influential in
Uruguay even though it’s still a predominantly Catholic country. This had led society
activismbeing more collaborative and promoted especially on civil rights. The civil union
law was proclaimed on same-sex marriage in 2007, and expanded to the approved law in
2013, putting Uruguay as the very first country in Latin American to recognize
Gays/Lesbians rights and communities countrywide. Compared to the countries such as
North Korea and India that are with a more conservative insight and treat
LGBT/homosexual communities illegal, the significance Uruguay government had made
are legalizing same sex couples to own health benefits, pension right, and adopt children
as what people from heterosexual marriage can get (Corrales 2015). Military is also open
to gays/lesbians.

15. 14
Uruguay’s cultural values influence societal/an individual’s attitudes towards sexual
variation and embrace cultural changes by treating everyone equally. Decades of
campaigning the positive attitude and treatment of LGBT communities have paved the
way for this country to transform and demonstrate their cultural values as an open-
minded and tolerant society.The process of promoting LGBT communities in Uruguay was
supported by positive public opinion and progressive political cultures that impacted from
western europe.This turned the LGBT groups, experiencing how they’ve been
discriminated against for sexual orientation and gender identity in the past, are willing to
advocate for equality marriage, while organizations standing for LGBT citizens were
combined together on forces, hoping to gain a wider audience to therefore impact the
political decisions. Moreover, during the 1990s and 2000s, with increased higher
education literacy rate, Uruguayan youth have absorbed more knowledge not only locally
but with a broader perspective from other cultures, which successfully reduced
discriminations toward LGBT community (Plecher 2020).
When translating to other culture, Uruguay exemplifies the legislations while people are
free to speak/express to the LGBT rights.The remarkable progress on promoting the legal
status of LGBT individuals comprise not only same-sex marriage but also strong anti-
discrimination laws, powering pro-courts/social movements to defend the current LGBT
rights (McGoldrick 2016). These actions regarding to treating LGBT individuals and
communities fairly also influenced positively on many sectors of Uruguay as well as their
tourism and social inclusion, benefitting its economic development such as the GDP
growth. As one of the most multicultural societies, these cultural values are the things
that make Uruguay outstanding in hosting the World Cup 2030. People from the FIFA
Executive Committee, athletes that represent their countries, and tourists will all feel
comfortable and respected when being in this country.

16. 15
CONCLUSION
In assessing Uruguay as a potential candidate for hosting the 2030 FIFA World Cup,
several cultural factors were taken into consideration. Uruguay’s position and treatment
of women was found to be very progressive and has introduced several measures in order
to reduce the wage gap, and to ensure equal rights in relationships and in the workplace.
Such attitudes saw the country rank first in the America Quarterly Social Inclusion Index in
2016 for the 3rdvconsectuive year. (Tummino & Bintrim 2016) In terms of sport, football
is an integral part of Uruguayan culture, and “cuts across all social spheres, classes and
institutions.” (Revelez 2018, pg. 561) This is fuelled by a successful national team and a
fiercely competitive local competition. Collectively, as suggested by the Hofstede Model,
Uruguay may be somewhat suspicious of outside cultures, but football remains a uniting
force. Like its treatment of women, the attitude towards LGBT rights is similarly
progressive. Lastly, advertising towards children in Uruguay is very considerate, and the
government has taken steps in order to ensure that minors are protected from
advertisements of tobacco, alcohol and unhealthy foods. With all these cultural attitudes
taken into consideration, Uruguay is a potentially suitable host for the 2030 World Cup
and would be generally welcoming to all on the world stage.

17. 16
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