German Bundesliga fans organized a major protest against the Qatar World Cup, holding caustic posters condemning the country’s abysmal human rights record.
Since Qatar earned the privilege to host the World Cup in 2010, human rights organizations have often expressed their concerns about the treatment of foreign employees there and the astonishingly high number of workers who have supposedly perished in that country.
The stadiums where the tournament will be held are thought to have led to the demise of thousands of people.
During Hertha Berlin’s match versus Bayern Munich at the Olympic Stadium, home fans raised a banner that read: “15,000 deaths for 5,760 minutes of football – shame on you”.
In the away section, Bayern Munich supporters displayed a similar statement.
While Borussia Dortmund played VfL Bochum, a large sign that said “Boycott Qatar 2022” was placed in front of the home fans at Signal Iduna Park.
The following statement was the Qatari government’s response to the criticism: “Qatar is committed to a fair and effective labour system, and we value the indispensable role of foreign workers in our economy and wider society.”
The FA and several other European nations are preparing a forceful response to FIFA, according to Sportsmail, after FIFA head Gianni Infantino instructed them to refrain from making political remarks during the World Cup.
Because homosexuality is illegal in Qatar and carries a maximum seven-year prison sentence, the country has drawn a great deal of ire from clubs and supporters throughout Europe.
Despite being fined for violating a ban on political activity, England and Wales intend to wear “One Love” armbands as a statement against homophobia.
German Bundesliga Fans
One of the top five football leagues in the world is the Bundesliga. Millions of fans support it, and they do so by following their favorite Bundesliga teams on social media in addition to in the stadiums.
Qatar World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international men’s football championship played between the senior national teams of FIFA member countries, is set to take place for the 22nd time in 2022.
Qatar will host it from November 20 through December 18, 2022.
After the event in South Korea and Japan in 2002, this will be the second World Cup wholly held in Asia and the first World Cup ever to be contested in the Arab world.
Furthermore, the tournament is planned to be the last with a 32-team field; for the tournament in the United States, Mexico, and Canada in 2026, the field is planned to grow to 48 teams.
The 2022 World Cup will be the first to not be hosted in May, June, or July and to take place in the northern autumn; it will be played in a shorter timeframe of roughly 29 days due to the extreme summer heat in Qatar. The tournament will take place from late-November to mid-December.
At Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor, the opening match will be played between Qatar and Ecuador.
The final is scheduled for December 18, 2022, which also happens to be Qatar National Day. France is the current World Cup champion.
Why are German Bundesliga Fans protesting?
Several foreign workers who protested underpaid salaries were deported from Qatar.
The nation hired hundreds of foreign workers to construct new hotels and infrastructure in preparation for hosting the football World Cup finals this winter.
Human rights organizations have often expressed their displeasure with Qatar’s treatment of foreign workers and the number of deaths that have occurred there.
For the World Cup finals, Qatar constructed seven stadiums, a new airport, a new metro system, a number of new roads, and roughly 100 new hotels.
Around the stadium that would host the championship game, a brand-new city was created.
According to the government of Qatar, 30,000 foreign workers have been employed solely for the stadium construction. The majority are from the Philippines, Bangladesh, India, and Nepal.
Human rights organizations have criticized Qatar’s treatment of migrant employees since it was awarded the privilege to host the World Cup in 2010.
Amnesty International charged Qatari businesses with utilizing forced labor in 2016.
Human Rights Watch, a campaign organization, claimed in a study dated 2021 that foreign workers continued to experience “punitive and illegal salary deductions” and “months of unpaid wages for long hours of grueling labour.”
The Guardian reported in February 2021 that 6,500 migrant workers from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka had perished in Qatar since it was awarded the World Cup bid.
The amount is based on data provided by the embassies of the nations in Qatar.
The Qatari government, however, claimed that the figure was inaccurate since not all of the fatalities reported were workers engaged in World Cup-related activity.
According to the report, many of them who passed away had lived and worked in Qatar for a number of years and could have passed away from old age or another cause.
Only three of the 37 deaths of workers at World Cup stadium construction sites between 2014 and 2020, according to the government’s accident data, were “work-related.”
