BERNE: The international players’ union has called on 2022 World Cup hosts Qatar to respect workers’ rights following a report in the Guardian newspaper that dozens of migrant Nepalese workers have died in recent weeks in the Gulf state.
FIFPro, which represents around 50,000 professional footballers worldwide through its national affiliates, said that independent experts must be allowed to inspect worksites and ensure international labor standards are adhered to.
“Qatar must respect the rights of the key people who will deliver the 2022 World Cup: the workers who build the World Cup stadia and infrastructure and the professional footballers who play in them,” FIFPro said in a statement on Friday.
“FIFPro...calls on the international football community to act with solidarity to ensure that the 2022 World Cup in Qatar is only delivered in accordance with football’s universal values as set out in the statutes of (soccer’s governing body) FIFA.” It added: “FIFPro is deeply alarmed by reports of the brutal exploitation of migrant workers by construction companies in Qatar who are involved in building the stadia that FIFPro members will be expected to play in.” The Guardian report, published on Wednesday, said thousands of Nepalese workers were enduring labor abuses as Qatar prepares to host the 2022 World Cup.
The Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee said in a statement it had been informed that government authorities were investigating the allegations.
“The 2022 World Cup was awarded to Qatar to promote football and, more importantly, football’s universal values in the Middle East,” said Brendan Schwab, head of FIFPro’s Asian division.
“This can only be achieved if Qatar respects the rights of the key people who will deliver that World Cup: the workers who build the World Cup stadia and the players who play in them.” “If these reports are true, then football must act,” Schwab added. “It is inexcusable for workers’ lives to be sacrificed, especially given modern health and safety practices in the construction industry.
“FIFPro assumes that adherence to FIFA’s principles and international labor standards are conditions on which Qatar was awarded the extraordinary privilege of hosting football’s greatest event.
“FIFA has previously acted to ensure international labor standards are respected when it worked with the International Labour Organization (ILO) in the fight against child labor in the manufacture of footballs. A similar initiative is urgently needed in Qatar.
“Further, independent workplace health and safety experts appointed by FIFA and the ILO must be permitted to inspect all worksites and make binding recommendations to ensure international labor standards are respected in Qatar.” FIFA’s executive committee will discuss the Qatar situation when it meets in Zurich next week.
The committee is also expected to approve in principle that the tournament be staged away from the summer months of June and July.
Players’ union ‘deeply alarmed’ by Qatar labor allegations
Players’ union ‘deeply alarmed’ by Qatar labor allegations
FIFA announces $60 World Cup tickets after pricing backlash
PARIS: World Cup organizers unveiled a new cut-price ticket category on Tuesday after a backlash by fans over pricing for the 2026 tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Football’s global governing body FIFA said in a statement that it had created a limited number of “Supporter Entry Tier” fixed at $60 for all 104 matches, including the final.
It said the plan was “designed to further support traveling fans following their national teams across the tournament.”
FIFA said that the $60 tickets would be reserved for fans of qualified teams and would make up 10 percent of each national federation’s allotment.
Fan group Football Supporters Europe , which last week called prices “extortionate” and “astronomical,” responded by saying the FIFA was offering too little.
“While we welcome FIFA’s seeming recognition of the damage its original plans were to cause, the revisions do not go far enough,” FSE said in a statement on Tuesday.
Last week, FSE said ticket prices were almost five times higher than in 2022 in Qatar, describing FIFA’s pricing for 2026 as a “monumental betrayal of the tradition of the World Cup.”
“If a supporter were to follow their team from the first match to the final it would cost them a minimum of $6,900,” it said at the time, adding that World Cup organizers had promised tickets priced from $21 in a bid document released in 2018.
‘Appeasement tactic’
On Tuesday, FSE said FIFA’s partial ticketing U-turn exposed flaws in how prices for next year’s tournament had been set.
“For the moment we are looking at the FIFA announcement as nothing more than an appeasement tactic due to the global negative backlash,” FSE said.
“This shows that FIFA’s ticketing policy is not set in stone, was decided in a rush, and without proper consultation — including with FIFA’s own member associations.
“Based on the allocations publicly available, this would mean that at best a few hundred fans per match and team would be lucky enough to take advantage of the 60 US dollar prices, while the vast majority would still have to pay extortionate prices, way higher than at any tournament before.”
The organization also criticized the failure to make provisions for supporters with disabilities or their companions.
Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer echoed FSE, stating that FIFA’s cheaper ticket category did not go far enough.
“I welcome FIFA’s announcement of some lower priced supporters tickets,” Starmer wrote on X.
“But as someone who used to save up for England tickets, I encourage FIFA to do more to make tickets more affordable so that the World Cup doesn’t lose touch with the genuine supporters who make the game so special.”
Announcing the $60 tickets on Tuesday, FIFA said that national federations “are requested to ensure that these tickets are specifically allocated to loyal fans who are closely connected to their national teams.”
FIFA also said that if fans bought tickets for games in the knockout rounds only to find their team eliminated at an earlier stage, they “will have the administrative fee waived when refunds are processed.”
It added that it was making the announcement “amid extraordinary global demand for tickets” with 20 million requests already submitted.
The draw for tickets of all prices in the first round of sales will take place on Tuesday, January 13.
