World Cup should not have gone to Qatar because of human rights alone

While various organisations such as the US Department of Justice and the Swiss government launch investigations into financial irregularities in FIFA, the true cost of football corruption should be measured not in dollars but in dead bodies.

Allegations of bribery are nothing new for FIFA, especially since its controversial decision to grant Qatar the 2022 World Cup. But the sheer scale of the death toll in that gulf state over the last few years must completely overshadow financial matters and give everyone associated with football pause for thought.

It is an appalling and horrific fact that since the World Cup was awarded to Qatar in 2010 the death toll for migrant workers stands at over 1,200. The majority of these workers have been worked to death as the World Cup infrastructure programme there accelerates to meet the 2022 deadline. The projected death toll by the start of the 2022 World Cup is conservatively forcast by the International Trade Union Confederation to stand at over 4,000.