Qatar 2022: Football at the cost of thousands of lives

With the World Cup taking place in Qatar, the nation's sketchy past on human rights is examined

Alexander James
7th November 2022

What was supposed to be a celebration of the beautiful game of football has now been overshadowed by corruption and human rights abuses.

In December 2010, Sepp Blatter announced that the 22 members of FIFA’s executive committee had voted to award the tournament to Qatar. The decision sent shockwaves through the football world. It beat off rival bidders such as the USA, Japan, Australia and South Korea, winning an absolute majority in the 4th round of balloting. Since then this decision has come under severe criticism from journalists, public officials and human rights watchdogs.

The criticism comes partly due to practical reasons. It will be the first World Cup to be held in a desert. For context, Qatar has daily highs of 30℃ in November and 26℃ in December. The solution to the sweltering heat? An incredibly expensive and environmentally costly commitment to outside air conditioning at the tournament's 13 stadiums.

Qatar was also the only World Cup bidder with little to no pre-existing infrastructure to host games. Since 2010, it has spent upwards of 70 billion dollars on roads, hotels, stadiums, and other infrastructure networks. 9 of its 13 stadiums were built from scratch.

While this money will likely be recouped through the financial and cultural capital of hosting, it is nevertheless a huge material and environmental (not to mention human) cost for something unlikely to have a lasting use, as witnessed in Brazil.

Qatari authorities reckon they will be receiving 850,000 fans this World Cup, in addition to all the official media, teams and their support staff. Where is everyone going to sleep? FIFA estimates they will need a peak supply of 130,000 rooms and other rental spaces. Recent press releases from Qatari officials estimate there may be 60,000 readied by November. It's almost as if FIFA didn’t consider this when receiving their “alleged” bribes.

Why has Qatar been allowed to host, when it's in direct violation of both FIFAs governing statutes and a decent moral framework? 

The Emirate state continues to build at a rapid pace on the back of appalling human and labour rights abuses. Since 2010, hundreds of thousands of migrant workers mainly from South East Asia have been subject to severe racial discrimination and housed in ghettos outside of Doha. 

Some have likened the conditions to the forced labour of slavery. The technically illegal but widely used kafala (sponsorship) system gives employers extensive rights over their workers and has been blamed for thousands of unexplained deaths and injuries, instances of wage theft and exorbitant recruitment fees.

On top of this, Qatar has state policies that discriminate against and facilitate violence against women and actively represses LGBT individuals. Why has Qatar been allowed to host, when it's in direct violation of both FIFAs governing statutes and a decent moral framework? 

There is without a doubt widespread corruption. Bribes have allegedly been paid out to officials in exchange for votes for Qatar.  It has always been endemic, but Qatar is the tipping point for FIFA.  

Spreading football across the world is great, but in this instance, FIFA refused to divorce itself from human rights violations, corruption and what looks to be a logistical nightmare.

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