Qatar Inspiring the world by hosting FIFA world cup superbly.
Qatar’s selection to host this year’s FIFA World Cup brought cheers to the streets of Doha as the first edition of the tournament was celebrated in the Arab world.
But the decision, made in 2010, sparked immediate criticism. He is about the logistics of hosting sporting events in a country where summer temperatures regularly exceed 100 degrees. About allegations of bribery and corruption among his FIFA officials who voted for Qatar. And concerns about human rights violations that have continued for years since.
With just days to go until the World Cup, the Gulf nations are expecting the arrival of more than one million of his fans. Billions more are expected to watch his 64 matches in the tournament. However, the controversy has not subsided. Most recently, even the former FIFA president said Qatar’s choice was a mistake.
“It was a bad choice,” said Sepp Blatter, whose term as FIFA administrator ended in a bribery scandal in 2015.
Lack of infrastructure and death of migrant workers
Qatar is the smallest country to ever host the World Cup, a complex international sporting event that draws large numbers of visitors, and needs the infrastructure to accommodate them.
At just 4,471 square miles, Qatar is about 20% smaller than Connecticut. Most of the country is barren and sandy, and most of the 2.8 million people live around the capital, Doha.
When Qatar was elected in 2010, it did not have many of the stadiums, hotels and highways needed to host the tournament. To build them, the country turned to a huge number of migrant workers, who make up over 90% of the workforce. (Of Qatar’s inhabitants, only about 300,000 are Qatari citizens, far outnumbering migrant workers whose visas are tied to employment, which is the prevailing system in the Middle East.)
Working and living conditions for these migrant workers were often exploitative and dangerous. A 2021 study by The Guardian found that since 2010, more than 6,500 migrant workers from five South Asian countries have been forced to leave Qatar for any number of reasons, including work injuries, car accidents, suicides and deaths from other causes, including heat. was found dead in
“Some of them were workers who collapsed at the stadium construction site and were lifted to death. He died suddenly and unexplained during the camp,” Pete Pattison, one of the investigative reporters, said in an interview with NPR last year.