Football players from Denmark and Norway have described working conditions of labourers at Qatar’s 2022 World Cup stadiums as “cruel”, it was reported on Tuesday.
AFP reported that the players criticised conditions in a video published by world football players’ union FIFPro.
“Working conditions in Qatar are, unfortunately, cruel,” Norway’s Tom Hogli, who currently plays for Danish side FC Copenhagen, said in a video clip.
He also criticised Qatar’s treatment of labourers on World Cup sites as “modern day slavery”.
“The fact that thousands must die to build 12 fine stadiums for us has nothing to do with football,” said Denmark’s William Kvist, also from FC Copenhagen, in the video, AFP said.
The issue of working conditions for migrant labourers helping build stadiums for the 2022 tournament in Qatar has long proved controversial.
Critics have claimed that hundreds workers have already died, a figure vehemently denied by Qatar which last month announced the appointment of an independent third party monitoring firm to audit the welfare of labourers working on construction projects.
The Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) has appointed Impactt Ltd to monitor issues such as the recruitment, employment, living and working conditions of everyone engaged on its projects.
The Government of Qatar has also said it will investigate contractors accused of human rights abuses against labourers following a report by Amnesty International.
The country currently employs about 5,100 workers on World Cup sites, a number that will peak at 36,000 by 2018, AFP said.
Follow us on
