Research and Course Guides: World Cup: Controversies

Reality Check 2021: A year to the 2022 World Cup – The state of Migrant Worker’s Rights in Qatar. Amnesty International

This 2021 report from Amnesty International demonstrates that the past year has seen an actual erosion of newly protected migrant workers’ rights, with old abusive practices resurfacing, reviving the worst elements of the kafala sponsorship system and undermining reforms. The government has failed to rigorously implement the changes, throwing into doubt the pledge by key stakeholders that the World Cup would be a game changer for migrant workers in Qatar.

Articles from the Library

After the Games: Abandoned, decaying Olympic venues around the world
A sad, but fascinating photo gallery of abandoned World Cup stadiums from around the world.
Qatar 2022 and After: A Credible Threat for the FIFA Empire?
hree main controversies around the 2022 FIFA World Cup are presented: recurrent suspicions of corruption of several members of the FIFA executive committee; the enormous environmental cost of air conditioning the stadiums, and the way migrant workers were mistreated during the construction and renovation of the 8 stadiums.
How Blue-Chip Sponsors Are Approaching the Very Messy Qatar World Cup
Marketing experts discuss how brands like Coke, Visa and Adidas must navigate an event that’s run the controversy gamut, from allegations of human rights abuses to the host country’s stance on homosexuality

Oh look! Despite all this, everyone's still going

Joe Lycett calls on David Beckham to remove himself from Qatar World Cup or he'll shred 10K

In a video message, British comedian Joe Lycett calls for David Beckham, one of the most famous footballers on the planet, to end his role as a Qatar World Cup ambassador. If he doesn't...well, you'll see.

Documentaries from the UST Music & Media Collection

The Workers Cup: Inside the labor camps of Qatar, a tournament for workers
The Workers Cup is set inside the labor camps of Qatar, where the World Cup is being built on the backs of 1.6 million migrant workers. The film follows a team of laborers living a real-life version of fantasy football. By day they sweat to build the World Cup, by night they compete in a “workers welfare” football tournament, playing in the same stadiums that will one day host the world’s greatest players. We join one team of men from Nepal, India, Ghana, and Kenya whose only common ground is their love for football. Each match offers them a momentary escape from the homesickness and isolation they endure as the lowest class in the world’s richest country.
Football Hell
In Qatar, allegedly 4000 workers will die to put on the 2022 Football World Cup. This staggering figure indicates the slave-like conditions the builders of football's most expensive construction project are enduring. Qatar's capital Doha is a beautiful desert oasis of incredible wealth, built by migrant workers who are almost slaves. Bullied, abused, yet somehow still grateful? Their choice is between dehumanizing conditions or a return to poverty in their home countries.
Qatar: Slaves to the Beautiful Game
Qatar’s triumphant bid for the 2022 World Cup is under fire not just because of the FIFA corruption scandal. As Eric Campbell from Foreign Correspondent reports, the wealthy emirate stands accused of being a slave state through its harsh treatment of workers building its multibillion-dollar World Cup facilities.