Even though Russia 2018 FIFA (International Federation of Association Football) World Cup has not even started yet, its successor Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup has been making headlines in the sports world recently.
Many construction workers have passed away because of the excessive heat while building the new soccer stadiums. Qatar are building five new stadiums by 2020. According to the Washington Post there have been 964 deaths of migrants from India, Nepal and Bangladesh in 2012 and 2013. Amnesty International a human rights organization released a report earlier this year of how migrants’ work has suffered labor abuse. Such as living in camp conditions, being paid from little to nothing, being threaten to be deported back to their countries.
What FIFA officials have done? Nothing. It is time for FIFA to take action and find another country to host the 2022 World Cup.
After the Amnesty International released its report on migrants workers labor abuse. FIFA officials responded with a statement. “We are fully aware of the risks facing construction workers in Qatar and we are confident that the measures taken by the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy are the appropriate ones and have already improved the situation for migrant workers working on FIFA World Cup construction sites,” said FIFA Head of Sustainability Federico Addiechi.
FIFA has always said that it does not have responsibility for wider contemporary Issues in the countries the world cup is hosting, but it is working with the Qatar government to solve the issues of migrant workers.
Qatar government officials have responded to the Amnesty International report “The government of the State of Qatar fully intends to meet the highest standards with regard to labor conditions and would welcome comparative data on the progress that has been made.” Eight Construction Workers died during the construction of World Cup stadiums at Brazil in 2014. According to Amnesty International report more thn 36,000 workers could be forced to labor as the construction of stadium are speeding up.
Labor abuses have not been the only issues, but the climate. The World Cup has always been held in summers in the Northern Hemisphere (May – August). In Qatar during the summer months temperatures could hit to 122 °F. It has cause concern for the safety of players and the fans that come all over the world to see this event.
A Study conducted by University of Freiburg in Germany in 2014 by Dr. Andreas Matzarakis and researcher Dominik Frohlich. They stated, “The results show that this kind of event may be not appropriate for visitors, if it is placed during months with extreme conditions. For Doha, this is the period from May to September, when conditions during a large majority of hours of the day cause strong heat stress for the visitors. A more appropriate time would be the months November to February, when thermally comfortable conditions are much more frequent.” said in the report.
Qatar are building advanced air-conditioning technology that would cool stadiums, but concern is when fans leave the stadium and wonder off to visit other places. FIFA officially announced the 2022 World Cup it will take place from November 21 to December 18 for the first time ever.
If the World Cup was to be moved, it has to come to the United States. The U.S was second in the votes for the bid for the 2022 World Cup. The United States has already many stadiums throughout the 50 states to host games. Over the past years soccer have increased interest for American. According to the latest ranking by therichest.com Soccer came in 7th place for the most popular sport in America. Based on Nielsen fast nationals, the World Cup final between Argentina and Germany averaged about 17.3 million viewers.
As the 2018 Russia FIFA World Cup approaches, it is time for FIFA to makes it decision and replace Qatar with The U.S. To host the 2022 FIFA World Cup.