Qatar has had to go to extreme lengths to have the infrastructure to host a World Cup since their bid. Having only one eligible stadium for a World Cup game, the nation had to build seven new stadiums specifically for the World Cup, as well as infrastructure for the country to sustain travel from around the world. With a total population around 1.75 million at the time of the World Cup bid in 2010, Qatar had to outsource labor with migrant workers. By 2019, Qatar’s population was only 10.5% national citizens, while an estimated 88% were foreign workers [1]. Only 333,000 of the population are citizens of Qatar, while over 2 million people are foreign workers living in the country. This flux of labor outsourcing, and lack of infrastructure and workers rights, led to deadly working conditions.

 

In a way, the Qatar World Cup was built from human rights violations. To start, the same company that built the stadium for the World Cup Final in Qatar is the same company that built concentration camps in China—linked to the genocide of the Uyghurs [2]. Next, migrant work in Qatar was overseen by the “kafala” system until 2020. Under the system, companies had the rights to workers and controlled their immigration status, something that led to mass labor abuse. Leading up to the World Cup, Qatar was forced to dismantle the system due to public scrutiny [3].

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

 

   Living conditions in labor camps

 

As early as 2013, news outlets were reporting extreme working conditions. Migrant workers, primarily from Southeast Asia and Africa, were housed in poverty-laden communities. They were also receiving lower salaries than promised, and worked longer hours than the Federal government mandated. It was estimated that 4000 migrant workers were expected to die in the lead up to the World Cup [4]. However, this proved to be an underestimate.  

In 2021, The Guardian reported at least 6,500 deaths of migrant workers in Qatar since the World Cup was awarded. It is admitted to even be an underestimate as it doesn’t include deaths from every country—specifically the Philippines and Kenya, two countries that have sent large numbers of migrant workers to Qatar over the past decade. Working and living conditions given to the workers can be seen as the main cause for the deaths. Qatar has attributed the majority of these deaths as “natural,” usually citing heart failure [5]. However, many of these “natural” deaths have been found to be under suspect conditions. Heart failure can also be caused by work fatigue, heat, and other manifestations of the working conditions in Qatar. 

​

In order to build infrastructure strong enough to host a World Cup, a country needs an infrastructure to support the work that would go into building the necessities. Qatar had neither.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Statistics from The Guardian

​