The hidden lives and dreams behind the 2022 World Cup

Real-life fantasy football — Every year, Qatar's migrant workers get to play in a football tournament of their own. For some, it's a much-needed form of escape. For others, it's a chance to be discovered. Acclaimed documentary The Workers Cup offers a glimpse into the shocking reality behind sport's greatest stage.

In 2022, Qatar will host the biggest sporting event on the planet. Over 1.6m migrant workers are currently constructing eight stadiums, several high-rise hotels, multiple roads and everything else required to make the FIFA World Cup possible.

The labourers – who make up 60 per cent of Qatar’s population – come from Nepal, India, the Philippines, Ghana and Kenya to work shifts of up to 16 hours, six days a week, for as little as $200 per month – all in an effort to provide better lives for their families back home.

But some have also been attracted by the Workers Cup, a football tournament that allows these migrants workers – outsiders in the world’s richest country – to compete for glory in the same stadiums they’re building for the world’s biggest sporting stage.

Up close, however, the story is a far more complex one than big contractor firms fielding sports teams as a philanthropic gesture. So when filmmaker Adam Sobel and his co-producers were able to embed themselves with the GCC (Gulf Construction Company) crew, they gained unprecedented access to an underclass that normally remains voiceless – an extraordinary cast of multinationals linked by their love of football.

There’s Kenneth, a 21-year-old who left Ghana after a recruiting agent told him he’d be joining a professional football club in Qatar. There’s Umesh, a diehard Manchester United fan separated from his wife and two children (named Rooney and Robin) back in India until he’s earned enough to build a home. And there’s Samuel, a goalkeeper who struggled to make a living in Ghana’s first division and, out of pride, told his father he was emigrating to play professional football.