Fifa ignores own report into Qatar World Cup over workers’ compensation

A long-awaited Fifa report into the legacy of the Qatar World Cup has been published, but only after its key recommendation was rejected by the organisation.

Fifa’s subcommittee on human rights and social responsibility has found that the game’s world body “has a responsibility” to provide financial remedy to workers who suffered loss as a result of employment at the 2022 World Cup. Its report argues that Fifa should use its Qatar legacy fund for those workers. Two days before the report was published, however, Fifa announced that the $50m fund would be used on international development projects instead.

The subcommittee was commissioned in March last year to examine Fifa’s obligations arising from the tournament and its impact on those workers who experienced harm. The report was submitted last December but it is understood that internal resistance meant it only came out 11 months later, at midnight central European time on Friday.