Dive Brief:
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FIFA's much-publicized bribery scandal has brought to light another soccer-related problem: the reported deaths of more than 1,200 construction workers during the building of stadiums in Qatar for the 2022 World Cup.
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Qatar officials have said the figures — originally reported in 2013 by the International Trades Union Confederation and then spotlighted on May 27 by The Washington Post — are overblown. An email on Thursday from the communications office of the State of Qatar to online newspaper LondonLovesBusiness.com said, “There have been no fatal industrial accidents on World Cup projects. Not one.”
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The email said the trade union based its figure on all job-site deaths among India and Nepalese migrants working in Qatar, and projected how many more there would be between 2010 and the 2022 World Cup.
Dive Insight:
The Post noted: “It is hard to know how many of those are specifically World Cup associated,” as “hundreds of thousands” of migrant workers travel to the country for work each year. “There could be hundreds of deaths even without a World Cup.”
Still, the projection is staggering when compared to construction-worker fatalities on other World Cup Stadiums. The Post reported two deaths during construction of the arena for the 2010 event in South Africa, and 10 in Brazil during preparations for the 2014 World Cup.
