Dive Brief:
- A Qatari official said between 400 and 500 migrant workers died as a result of work done on projects connected to the World Cup, a stark contrast to previously reported figures. Hassan Al-Thawadi shared the statistic in an interview with Piers Morgan that aired on TalkTV Monday.
- Al-Thawadi, the secretary-general of Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, had said earlier in the same interview that three workers had died as a result of construction work at stadium jobsites, and 37 had died in non-work related incidents, such as heart attacks. Those 40 fatalities were the previous metric used to indicate the death toll from World Cup work. When pressed by Morgan for more details, Al-Thawadi upped the estimate to “between 400 and 500.”
- Later, the Supreme Committee issued a statement appearing to contradict and clarify Al-Thawadi, claiming the cited statistic applied to all sectors and nationalities for 2014 to 2020, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Dive Insight:
Qatar and FIFA, the organization that organizes the World Cup, have come under fire for their migrant labor practices and strict conservative culture. The country spent $300 billion on preparations to host the international soccer contest.
Construction work included seven new stadiums, one refurbished stadium, over 1,000 miles of new roadways, 200 bridges, a major metro network and a $45 billion “mega development” set to become a city, Bloomberg reported.
High costs and budget overruns are common with major international sporting events, but even then, Qatar’s budget stands out. The price tag for Qatar’s games was more than 10 times that of the last two World Cups in Russia ($11.8 billion) and Brazil ($15 billion), Engineers Against Poverty reported.
For construction projects, Qatar used to rely on the kafala system, which gives employers large amounts of control over workers' lives and travel. Qatar has adopted some new practices as a result of hosting the World Cup, including removing the kafala system and updating safety standards, though projects still rely heavily on migrant labor, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The country also adopted a minimum monthly wage of 1,000 Qatar riyals ($275) and food and housing allowances for workers not receiving those from employers, the Times reported.
In 2021, EAP released a report indicating that international competitions like the World Cup and the Olympics cause a “perfect storm for corruption.” Poor planning, complex projects and a lack of accountability lead to collusion, which can lead to massively inflated project costs, the report said.
EAP called for more transparency in the host selection process as well as oversight into financing and construction.
