Why Qatar Hosting the 2022 World Cup is so Controversial
As the Scottish men’s football team prepares for two huge World Cup qualifiers for Qatar 2022, Taha Rabbani explores why the event has caused so much controversy.
The FIFA World Cup, the largest sporting event on the planet. Over three and a half billion people around the world tuned into the 2018 event. An event that ties people from all nations together for the common love of football. The hosts in the past decade have been South Africa in 2010, Brazil in 2014 and most recently, Russia in 2018. We’re now only one year away from the next World Cup, which will be held in Qatar.
In the new world, usually you can find a protest about anything. Someone is always offended about something, right? This time it seemed different. It was deeper than sport. In 2010, it was announced that Qatar would be the following nation to host the global sporting event. They had beaten bids from Australia, Japan, South Korea and the USA. The backlash and uproar at the time was due to the fact that Qatar had no football heritage. But it quickly became about more than just football.
Qatar is a nation with no real football history. This meant they have had to build brand new stadiums to accommodate the event. This is where the real problem begins. Bloomberg estimates Qatar to have spent $300bn on infrastructure for the event. In comparison, Russia spent $11bn as hosts in 2018. Qatar is trying to capitalise on being on the world stage for the 2022 event. Impressing the world with their stunning infrastructure will be a means of tourism and becoming a top destination for travel and business.
But the truth about the event is far from impressive. As of February 2021, 6500 migrant workers have died whilst building stadiums in Qatar. The migrant workers come from Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. From 2010-2020, over 6500 of these migrant workers lost their lives due to the greed of a country’s ambition to impress the world for a sporting event. What is worth more?
Although there have been protests from players, fans and teams alike, the World Cup is set to go ahead next year in Qatar. So next summer, whilst watching the event with your loved ones, remember the 6500 migrant workers that lost their lives in order for the event to go ahead.