The hidden lives and dreams behind the 2022 World Cup
- Text by Cian Traynor
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.
The GCC team in their changing room before a big match. Left to right: Kenneth, David, Binumon, Purna, Umesh, Padam.
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