A chara, – While various organisations launch investigations into financial irregularities in Fifa, the true cost of football corruption should be measured not in dollars but in 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 there over the last few years must completely overshadow financial matters and give everyone associated with football pause to thought.
Migrant labourers make up about 90 per cent of Qatar’s population and human rights organisations such as Amnesty International have highlighted what it terms the “rampant exploitation” of these workers.
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 projected death toll by the start of the 2022 World Cup is conservatively forecast by the International Trade Union Confederation to stand at well over 4,000.
To put this figure in perspective, if a minute’s silence were to be observed for each dead worker prior to the opening match, the game would be delayed by almost three days. – Is mise,
KEVIN P McCARTHY,
Killarney,
Co Kerry.