The secretary general of the organizing committee, Hassan al-Thawadi, spoke in an interview about several hundred guest workers who had died in connection with the World Cup in Qatar.
"The estimate is 400, between 400 and 500. I don't have the exact number," al-Thawadi said in an interview with Piers Morgan for the British TV channel "Talk TV".
Morgan had asked about the realistic number of migrant workers who died as a result of their work for the soccer World Cup.
According to previous official information, three people died on the stadium construction sites.
The organizing committee had not yet given any figures on the total number of guest workers who died in connection with the World Cup.
A sensational report by the British "Guardian" from early 2021 had spoken of more than 6,500 dead workers from five Asian countries on the emirate's construction sites in the past ten years.
Qatar had always rejected these numbers.
In the conversation, Hassan al-Thawadi again referred to the reforms that had led to improved conditions for workers on the World Cup construction sites in the emirate in recent years and were necessary independently of the World Cup: “The improvements in terms of safety and health standards and the abolition of the kafala system because it corresponds to our own values," said the 44-year-old.
The award of the tournament to Qatar only accelerated this process.
The German Football Association and other European associations are campaigning for a compensation fund for guest workers in Qatar and for the establishment of a guest worker center in Doha.