Relocate the 2022 FIFA World Cup
A potential World Cup emergency relocation venue at MetLife Stadium.
December 1, 2022
The International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) needs to revoke Qatar’s rights to host the 2022 World Cup and move the games elsewhere.
After it was announced that Qatar would be hosting the 2022 World Cup, Qatar started constructing their stadiums by hiring thousands of migrant workers from countries such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, and other Asian nations.
Since then, there have been countless workers and human rights violations. Equidem, a workers and labors rights charity, released a report on Qatar that studied their construction practices from September 2020 to October 2022. Their study concluded that there had been physical abuse, verbal abuse, nationality-based discrimination, wage theft, exposure to COVID-19, holding worker passports, no health insurance, illegal recruitment, excessive work, and health and safety risks like being exposed to extreme and dangerous heat.
According to USA Today, about 6,500 migrant workers have died in Qatar due to harsh and unjust working conditions. This is just unacceptable, and it’s disgraceful that FIFA continues to plan for the World Cup to be played in Qatar after all of these violations and deaths. Qatar and its government are aware of all of this and still stands by doing nothing. Qatar does not deserve to have a World Cup played in their country, and it should be moved to be played elsewhere.
FIFA requires the country that is hosting to have at least nine stadiums with a capacity of at least 40,000. Stadiums hosting a quarter-final game need a capacity of at least 60,000 and the Opening Ceremony and Final requires a stadium with a capacity of at least 80,000. There are three countries that come to mind that easily fit these requirements. The United States of America, England, and Spain. These three countries already have the built infrastructure to host a World Cup, and they have successfully hosted the games in the past.
Qatar does not deserve to have a World Cup played in their country, and it should be moved to be played elsewhere. If FIFA has any sense of ethics and morals, they will ban Qatar from hosting the World Cup and move it while forcing both Qatar and themselves to arrange some sort of financial reparations for the workers that were abused, and for the families of the workers who died building these stadiums.
I will not be watching this year’s World Cup until the games are moved, and I urge all soccer fans around the world to do the same. Boycott and protest this blood-stained country and venue until Qatar is stripped of hosting rights.
