People are literally dying for the World Cup

By Owen Smith

The World Cup is the most prestigious soccer tournament in the world, and most players would die to get their hands on the trophy. But since Qatar was chosen as the 2022 location, workers have been dying for the World Cup, and not figuratively.

After the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, Qatar was controversially announced as the host nation for the 2022 tournament.

FIFA officials stated that choosing Qatar was a mistake and a different nation should’ve been selected. The nation has also been found to have provided over $5 million in bribes to FIFA officials to be chosen as the 2022 bid, according to the United States Department of Justice.

Since Qatar is not a soccer/football oriented country, there are not many stadiums large enough to handle the huge crowds of a World Cup. People came from all over Asia to work in Qatar and help build stadiums in the scorching heat and beaming sun.

There have been many concerns about the tournament from day one. The greatest has been the countless human rights issues in Qatar. Workers are being exploited and worked to death. According to the Guardian, over 6,500 migrant workers have died since 2010.

These workers have been unable to do much without permission from their “sponsors.” They cannot get a new job, move, or even leave the country. Workers have also had to sign false statements that they had received their pay just to have access to their passports once again.

Along with the exploitation of workers, homosexuality is banned and criminalized in Qatar. Yet the organizers and hosts of the tournament have said that LGBT fans would be welcome to attend the Cup.

Another issue with the 2022 World Cup is that it is being held in the winter, rather than the summer. Because Qatar can be such a hot and sunny country, the governing body decided to move the tournament from the summer to the winter. The issue with this is that the major European leagues run from August to May, so this tournament will interfere with the season.

After not much backlash from players, players from Norway and Germany finally took a stance on the World Cup. The Norwegian team wore shirts that contained the phrase, “Human rights, on and off the pitch.”

Germany’s national team lined up before their game against Iceland wearing shirts that all together spelled out “HUMAN RIGHTS.”

Alongside Norway and Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands have also shown their support for the workers in Qatar.

Although these teams have taken great steps recently, there still needs to be more done.

I’m not saying teams and players need to boycott the tournament completely. Germany has already said that they will not boycott the tournament, but will still support the workers being overworked and abused.

I’m not sure how something like this can go on behind the scene for so long and go unnoticed and unpunished, especially on such a huge stage, like a World Cup.

The simple truth is that a nation like Qatar should not be hosting a World Cup. There isn’t enough support or quality domestically for the sport. The nation’s league only ranks about 40th in the world.

This is why many more people need to learn about the human rights violations going on right now in Qatar. It has been happening for ten years now and needs to be stopped. Players beginning to protest is the first step but now there must be more backlash.