The 2022 World Cup held in Qatar is the most expensive in the sport’s history. Qatar has reportedly spent around $220 billion in the last dozen years on the World Cup. According to Forbes, this number comes in 15 times higher than what Russia spent when it hosted the World Cup back in 2018.
The minister of finance for Qatar stated in 2017 that the country was spending $500 million a week on capital projects, including building new roads, stadiums, and hotels, as well as upgrading its airport. While this brought a massive influx of jobs into the economy, many workers came from other countries to work on the projects.
Qatar came under scrutiny for subjecting workers to harsh and even deadly conditions to keep up with the demand and timelines of its projects. It is estimated that 6,500 migrant workers have died in Qatar since the country won its World Cup bid in 2010, according to figures provided by embassies in the country.
In a recent interview with British journalist Piers Morgan, Hassan al-Thawadi, the secretary-general of Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, estimated the number of worker deaths for the tournament to be “between 400 and 500” for the first time, a drastically higher number than any other previously offered.
Morgan asked, “What is the honest, realistic total do you think of migrant workers who died from – as a result of work they’re doing for the World Cup in totality?”
“The estimate is around 400, between 400 and 500,” al-Thawadi responded. “I don’t have the exact number. That’s something that’s been discussed.”
Reports from the Supreme Committee dating from 2014 through the end of 2021 only included the number of deaths of workers involved in building and refurbishing the stadiums now hosting the World Cup.
Previously released figures had put the number of deaths among workers directly linked to the construction of the World Cup stadiums at 37 deaths. The organizing committee said it “deeply regrets” and “investigated each incident to ensure lessons were learned.” Of the 37 deaths related to the stadium construction, the organizing committee officially classified 34 as “non-work related.”
Before 2020, workers were under the kafala system, meaning migrants were bound to a contract and needed permission to change jobs or leave the country. That was abolished in 2021, making it more viable for migrants to both take and leave jobs in Qatar. Some workers have reported their passports being illegally confiscated to keep them on the job.
In August, 300 people were arrested for protesting in Doha against a company that had allegedly not paid their wages. The influx of projects has changed some of the laws for workers in Qatar’s economy.
Previous World Cups had venues in multiple cities. Qatar, however, is hosting the month-long tournament in eight stadiums built in and around its capital, Doha. Nearly 3 million tickets for the event had been sold by October to fans traveling from all over the world for the massive sporting event.
According to Dezeen, an architecture and design magazine, architecture studio Week has designed a 2.7-mile-high memorial to draw attention to the number of reported deaths connected to the construction.
In Germany, a German artist filled a stadium in Herne with 20,000 candles to remember migrant workers who died in Qatar. Artist Volker-Johannes Trieb commemorated the more than 15,000 migrant workers who have died in Qatar in the past decade, including those working on the infrastructure for the World Cup, based on Qatari government statistics.
In addition to the candles, 6,500 footballs were filled with sand and placed on the playing field, reflecting the estimate of migrant deaths based on figures provided by non-Qatari governments.