Dear FIFA, it is time we talked about the 2022 World Cup.
The World Cup is very popular, to say the least. With 32 nations competing throughout a month-length of football, many stadiums are required.
Stadiums that Qatar, whom you have chosen to host the single-most influential sporting event in the world, does not have.
Qatar also lacks the workforce necessary to have these stadiums ready in time for the tournament. The International Trade Union Confederation estimates that Qatar will need to import around 1.8 million migrant workers to complete the construction needed for the World Cup.
The majority of those workers will be coming from Nepal, a country struggling to find any means of success, which lies 2,000 miles East of Qatar.
Nepal recently got out of a civil war and has been struggling ever since to stabilise their economy. With Qatar winning the bid to host the 2022 World Cup, Nepal saw this as the perfect opportunity to do so.
Qatar is seeking workers and Nepal is looking for work.
Nepal sending workers to Qatar seems to be the perfect combination. A situation that that could be greatly beneficial to both parties.
Unfortunately, this is not the case. One of the current problems is the travel agencies. Nepalese men take all the money they have left and use it to pay the travel agencies for transportation and a work visa.
When these workers arrive in Qatar, they are told that all of their documentation is fake. A former reporter from Nepal, Seema Rajouria, wrote about an experience she had with a migrant worker in an article for The American Prospect.
She was at the airport at Qatar when she saw a man being stopped by security. They would not let him through because his paperwork was not legal. He had been cheated by the recruitment agency for 100,000 rupees.
This is just one example of how thousands of Nepalese men are being trapped into modern slavery. Qatar threatens these men, telling them that they can go to jail.
After informing the workers that they cannot go home anytime soon, Qatar basically has them in the palm of their hands.
Holding workers against their own will is illegal. Agencies are lying to the migrant workers and dropping them into this loophole that has no exit.
In 2014, ESPN did a special report in which they travelled to Qatar to try and reveal how migrant workers were being mistreated. In this documentary, Sharan Burrow, a general secretary for the International Trade Union Confederation, was interviewed.
When asked about the migrant workers and why nothing is being done to change the current situation, she explains that, “[t]here is no fundamental right of collective voice. You can’t join a union. There’s no system of compliance. It’s self-auditing by companies.”
Since migrant workers are living in fear, they will not dare stand up to their superiors.
Ultimately, resulting in workers being pushed beyond their abilities in the dry summer heat of Qatar. Of course this is not the case for every migrant worker, but it is a very common issue that seems to keep expanding.
In an article published on The Diplomat, it is revealed that out of 150 Nepali migrant workers that were lucky enough to return home, over 90 per cent of them said they were lied and cheated to by recruitment agencies that did not respect their contracts.
The only option for FIFA, at this point, to fix the problem is to strip Qatar of their bid and elect a new country to host the 2022 World Cup.
As we all know, the other finalists to host the tournament that year were USA, Australia, Japan and South Korea. If Qatar were to be stripped of this honour for their immoral actions, it would be up to the officials to select a new location.
Australia would be in a great position to host a FIFA World Cup for the first time.
Australia has proven over and over again to be a great fit for the biggest sporting events. They have hosted the Olympics along with the Rugby and Cricket World Cup a handful of times, so we can only assume they are capable of hosting the FIFA World Cup as well.
As opposed to Qatar, Australia has dozens of stadiums already built that could be the venues for the games.
The time to take action is now, give Australia the World Cup.
Ian_W
Guest
So much this.
Myles Houlbrook-Walk
Roar Pro
Solid article, but I do think the topic area has been discussed no end. Hope to read more of your stuff here though!
Bob Brown
Roar Guru
Sorry Tom, thought you were referring to Qatar. China would be good like Korea/Japan, couple of hours behind.
Fussball IUL
Roar Rookie
And, who are the employers who mistreat their workers & allow subhuman working conditions where 1,993 were tragically killed? They aren't Qatari companies. They're mainly highly respectable European (German, French, British) engineering & construction firms who conveniently have no one point the finger at them. Much easier for people to blame the Muslim nation.
apaway
Roar Guru
With all due respect, Fuss, 1,993 migrant workers didn't die building venues for the Sydney Olympics.
apaway
Roar Guru
1,993 migrant workers have died in Qatar since 2010. That is disgraceful and cannot be waved away.
apaway
Roar Guru
Tom, I'd much prefer the USA hosted the 2022 World Cup than Qatar.
apaway
Roar Guru
Well, Beny, given the 2022 World Cup is being held in November/December, that wouldn't be a problem.
Peeeko
Guest
Thanks Middy
Tom
Guest
He said "I suspect China will host an Asian based World Cup before us now." So I was commenting on a World Cup held in "CHINA"
Bob Brown
Roar Guru
Where do you live? Qatar is 7 hours behind Australia's East Coast. Because its so hot, they'll play all the games at night, so an 7:30 PM kickoff in Qatar will kick off at 2:30 AM in Australia. Whereas Qatar is a couple of hours ahead of Europe so a night time kick off will be prime time evening in Europe or afternoon in North or South America. We are actually in the worst time zone for a Middle East WC Finals.
Bob Brown
Roar Guru
All this talk isn't going to change anything. The FIFA World Cup of 2022 is going to be played in QATAR. The new Blatter is the same as the old Blatter. FIFA are never going to change. Australia has to bribe as many South American and African delegates as it can to ever win the rights to hold a FIFA World Cup in Australia. Which is never.
Fussball IUL
Roar Rookie
Of course the levels of corruption are massively worse in most nations outside Australia. So what? Does that make corrupt behaviour in Australia just "larrikans having a bit of fun on the side"? See, it's the blatant hypocrisy of: "we're ok, it's only a small bribe" attitude that I find utterly disgusting. At least the corrupt nations are not hypocrites, pretending to be the world's White Knights & moral police. It's also why I find corrupt coppers absolutely disgusting.
Queries
Guest
I bet 'The Diplomat' and 'The American Prospect' would never talk about how black people are getting shot by white police for being black in the USA. The World Cup should never go to that country until they stop these disgusting acts.
northerner
Guest
Actually, Transparency is kind of like Amnesty or Freedom House when it comes to world ratings. And if you'd ever been in any of these countries, or had to work in their systems, you'd know that. But I'm guessing, you get your information on world events from Green Left Weekly.
northerner
Guest
And I totally disagree with the attitude, which is that major corruption, breathtaking in its width and breadth, in foreign governments, FIFA, the OIC and the rest, can be ignored because oh gee, someone in a local council in Australia took a bribe from developers. You have any idea what's going on in places like Russia, or big chunks of Africa, Asia, the Middle East? To try to argue that Australia is even close to the levels of corruption that exist in some of these countries is simply blind or possibly wilful ignorance. No one claims Australia is perfect but, man, get real. We're not even close to the levels of corruption in most of the rest of the world. And that is the unfortunate truth. And shouldn't that make you think? If things are so bad here, how much worse must they be elsewhere?
Fussball IUL
Roar Rookie
@northerner I totally disagree with the attitude (very much a developed world, English-speaking attitude) "we are corrupt, but you're bad because you are more corrupt". Australia is corrupt. It is corrupt at corporate level - every Blue Chip Company has executives that engage in behaviour no different to Fifa ExCo when negotiating contracts. It is corrupt a Federal Government level, State Govt level, Local Govt level. So, if Aussies want to start throwing stones at foreigners for being corrupt they need to put heavy curtains on their glass house.
Tom
Guest
And JUST "which" countries put together the Transparency International list??? Their "list" is about as believable as Standard & Poors, Moodys and Fitchs financial ratings which are SOLD to the highest bidders or for that matter OzSham's TV ratings!!!! HAHAHAHAHA
northerner
Guest
Interesting that you should argue that a country like Australia, which rates 13 on Transparency International's list, should be a tinpot country when you've got the likes of Russia at 119 and China at 83. Cultural cringe, or just ignorance?
northerner
Guest
If you begin to think the US or the Swiss are amongst the most corrupt countries in the world, you have never looked at Transparency International's ratings: http://www.transparency.org/cpi2015