Global 2022: Will Qatar's management of immigrant workers lead to a boycott?
The Ahmad bin Ali stadium in Qatar.
Karim JAAFAR AFP
Text by: Farid Achache Follow
4 min
Since the attribution to Qatar in 2010 of the 2022 Football World Cup, controversies have been linked endlessly.
Indeed, the British daily The Guardian estimated in a recent survey that 6,500 foreign workers would have lost their lives on the construction sites of the 2022 World Cup. Some voices were raised for a possible boycott.
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Gathered Thursday March 4 during their annual council, several Norwegian professional clubs voted in favor of a boycott of the competition by their selection (202 votes).
The Tromsø IL club even cracked a statement: “
The fact that corruption, modern slavery and a high number of dead workers are at the base of the most important thing we have, the world is not at all acceptable.
We can no longer sit and watch people die in the name of football,
”the club explained.
And to add: “
The criticism and the dialogue did not succeed.
We believe it is time to take the next step: boycott.
"
A motion was tabled but was not adopted due to the veto of the representatives of Rosenborg (46 votes against).
Norway is due to start its 2022 World Cup qualifying round against Gibraltar on March 24. The pearl team Erling Haaland will then play against Turkey on March 27 and against Montenegro on March 30.
A boycott of Norway is unlikely since the president of the Norwegian federation has already publicly opposed the idea.
Fifa has already promised sanctions in the event of a boycott and threat of outright exclusion from the 2026 World Cup.
Fifa's support
Qatar denies this massacre among foreign workers.
According to their own official figures, 37 migrants out of two million immigrant workers have died since December 2010. According to this Gulf country, the other deaths are due to "natural causes" such as respiratory problems, heart failure, or road accidents.
The International Football Federation (Fifa) declares for its part "to
support Qatar by trusting it to organize a great World Cup.
In 2019, the UN called on Qatar to strengthen workers' protection against the heat.
“
As has been the case since 2010, calls for a boycott will also reappear, and even multiply.
However, as it stands, questioning the outright organization of the event seems unlikely.
If the calls for a boycott are legion - and we saw them develop the day after the award of this World Cup, in December 2010 - many States do not seem to me to be able, nor wanting to cross the rubicon
”, indicates Carole Gomez, specialist in geopolitics of sport at IRIS, at the newspaper
Marianne
.
The FIFA World Cup in 2022 is for Qatar a very important moment for its soft power around sports diplomacy.
This small emirate exists on the international scene thanks to sport with the acquisition of Paris Saint-Germain in football.
For several years, Qatar has organized on its soil major international competitions such as the world athletics and cycling championships or, most recently, the World Cup for football clubs.
In June 2017, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt, had decided to sever diplomatic relations with Doha and place the emirate under embargo.
They accused Qatar of supporting radical Islamist groups, which Doha has always denied.
The three-year diplomatic quarrel ended last January.
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