2022 Qatar FIFA World Cup Stadiums

The first ever Arab FIFA World Cup is set to take place later this year, but it is not without controversy.

It is believed that over 6,500 migrant workers have lost their lives building in preparation for this year’s mega event, carving cities, roads and stadiums out of the desert sand.

Known as slipping deaths, or ciplō mr̥tyu in Nepalese, exhausted workers, often from India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, who have all been given prior medicals, have been known to die in the night following a long day of working in the fiercely searing sun without shade, time outs and/or water, all for just the equivalent of £8.30 per day.

Nepal itself has lost 1,641 citizens, all of whom will have had their passports confiscated on arrival in emirate.

Because of the Kalafa system, which was unsuccessfully removed in 2017, workers were tied to their employer and were unable to leave their job regardless of any abuses suffered.

Some were even made to wait seven months before receiving their first miserly pay packet.

Reformed Labour Laws

FIFA may point out that labour laws have changed and working conditions have improved since 2019 but construction began in 2010 as soon as Qatar was controversially awarded the tournament.

Worse still, many of these workers paid as much as £3,000 to recruitment agencies for a chance to work on construction, only to be paid a pittance building for a tournament that will earn FIFA more than £3 billion.

In a further insult, Qatar has failed to record the details of deaths, often referring to them as natural, leaving grieving families back home with no income and no idea where their loved ones were working when they perished, but still being forced to pay back the recruitment agency loan that helped to secure the rotten job in the first place.

Ridiculously, Qatar claims there have been only 37 worker deaths due the construction of World Cup stadiums.

Nevertheless, the competition which shames football will go ahead this November at an estimated cost of £138 billion from the 21st of November to the 18th of December making it the first ever Christmas World Cup.

A total of eight stadiums have been prepared across five cities all in close proximity which is another first for the biggest tournament in world football.

While we don’t yet know the draw, we do know which stadiums have been designated which matches.

A number of the stadiums used for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar will be repurposed after the event.

For instance, the Education City Stadium will see its capacity cut in half with over 20,000 of its seats being donated to build stadiums in developing countries, while the Al Thumama will also cut its capacity in half following the tournament with more than 20,000 seats being used to promote football again in developing nations.