FIFA Should Compensate Migrant Workers Injured Building Qatar World Cup, Report Says

The soccer World Cup held in Qatar in 2022 took the most popular sporting event to the Middle East for the first time. But it was trailed for years by reports of injuries, and even deaths, suffered by workers who created an entirely new country — including a subway network, hotels and a nearly a dozen modern stadiums — in preparation for the tournament.

Now, a report commissioned for FIFA, soccer’s governing body, has recommended that FIFA itself take direct responsibility for some of the injuries by compensating some workers or, for those who died, their dependents, according to two people with direct knowledge of the report.

The report offered no specific dollar amount of compensation. In the past, Amnesty International has called for at least $440 million for any compensation fund. FIFA, which has $4 billion in its reserves, has so far paid no money to anyone harmed.

“All reports and recommendations were considered during a comprehensive review by the FIFA administration and relevant bodies,” FIFA said in a statement to The New York Times on Friday before publication of this article. “While all recommendations could not be met, practical and impactful elements were retained.”

Referring to the report, the statement said, “It should be noted that the study did not specifically constitute a legal assessment of the obligation to remedy.”

The report and its recommendations were prepared last year, and have been secretly guarded as FIFA grappled with the impact of publication. FIFA has committed to publishing it by the end of this year.