In less than three days the razzmatazz and excitement of another World Cup will begin. Except, of course, this won't be like any such tournament that has gone before.
Qatar is by some distance the smallest country to host the event having been awarded the finals 12 years ago. And the controversy surrounding that choice has barely abated since, with persistent concerns over human rights and the treatment of migrant workers who helped construct a swathe of new stadiums.
A total of 11 Merseyside-based players - four from Everton, seven from Liverpool - will represent their respective national teams at the finals. And for some of the Reds men, it will be a return to where they won Liverpool's first FIFA Club World Cup in December 2019.
The ECHO was invited the month earlier on a trip ahead of the Club World Cup aimed at promoting the competition and the World Cup. And we accepted an invitation to visit one of the labour accommodation camps housing the hundreds of thousands of migrant workers.
This is what we found...
The spectacular Doha waterfront dominated by rows of towering skyscrapers serves as visual testament to the billions that have been spent on thrusting the Qatari capital on to the global stage.
Barely 20 miles away from those bright lights, though, lies a stark reminder of how those buildings were constructed.
The ECHO visited Challenger City, one of the dozens of labour accommodation camps across Qatar that home the majority of the estimated 2.3million migrant workers making up more than 90% of the country's workforce. There are 6,000 workers based at Challenger City, men aged primarily between the ages of 25 and 45.
The treatment of migrant workers has long been a concern in the western world, most notably given the number of deaths of those working on World Cup stadia.
In 2018, the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy – the Qatari organisers of the tournaments – confirmed the death of 11 workers. However, an independent investigation the following year claimed hundreds could have died from heat stress.
With the temperature regularly reaching 45 degrees Celsius during the summer, migrant workers often operate in extremely difficult conditions. But how well are they being treated away from the workplace?
Before even arriving at Challenger City, we are given a reminder of why Qatar soon acquired the reputation it has since been striving hard to shake off. Just outside the camp, behind a walled-off enclosure seemingly defended by imitation turrets, lay piles of rubble and the carcasses of what appear to be warehouse buildings. It was, it emerges, a former labour accommodation camp.
“It was not fit for purpose,” says Stephanus Van Dyk, the Audits and Inspections Manager (Workers' Welfare) for the Supreme Committee (SC). “So we had it pulled down.”
Essentially, it is the job of this South African, who had previously worked in Dubai, to ensure workers are properly looked after, not just at Challenger City but every SC-related camp. Indeed, Van Dyk helped write the Workers' Welfare Standards, which is now on a second edition.
It is not an easy job. There are more than 340 contractors and sub-contractors working on World Cup projects. Each has to be approved by the SC, with requirements including standard of accommodation and ethical recruitment. Inspections of each centre take place once every quarter, with between five and 10% of workers interviewed regarding payment, contracts and living conditions.
Centres are then given a list of non-compliant elements to be fixed for the next quarter, with the SC having a close relationship with the Qatar government's Ministry of Labour – it is to them they report any non-compliances. “It is not perfect,” admits Van Dyk. “There are some centres that have problems because they were built before the standards were set. One of the big changes has been with the bedrooms. When these were built it was 12 to a room. Now it is four to a room.
“There are 6,000 people here split into two groups – the SC (Supreme Committee) workers and the non-SC workers. We have improved the standards in the accommodation for the SC workers but the others also benefit. We have 4,500 SC workers in this accommodation. The rest are working on the metro and other construction projects.”
First impressions on entering Challenger City are that it appears clean and ordered, split into various blocks which are essentially prefabricated buildings shaped not too dissimilar to containers. We arrive during the morning, so most employees are at work, meaning we're unable to gauge what it would be like when reasonably full. Those that remain are either asleep or preparing for the night shift, which starts around 4pm or 5pm and continues through to 2am or 3am.
Block by block, we are taken through the various services. There is an on-site medical centre with round-the-clock care, and a huge food preparation area where 15,000 meals are made a day – including packed lunches – to various nutritional standards, with different menus available determined by the nationalities on camp.
There is a games room and relaxation area, a 24-hour laundry, a vast dining room, a barbers, a gym and outdoor sports facilities, such as a basketball court and five-a-side pitches. There is also a mosque, while followers of other religious denominations are transported to Doha for places of worship.
Mobile phones are among the items available at an on-site shop where prices are lower than in the city, although free WiFi on camp means WhatsApp has become the preferred method of communicating back home.
All of this, truth be told, is of far greater standard and much more varied than the ECHO had expected. But then came the accommodation quarters.
We were invited into block E, which like the others holds 320 workers. A huge corridor runs down the centre from one end to the other, with small rooms on either side then split into individual areas.
They are, to put it frankly, tiny. Each accommodation is curtained off – although many workers request it be left open so they can talk to their neighbours – with one bed, a table, a lamp, a power point and a free-standing storage unit for clothes. That's more or less it.
It's not a prison – workers aren't being forced to stay, although more on that shortly – but the individual space is smaller than in a cell in the United Kingdom, a total of six metre squared per person floor space. Again, it is clean, helped by toilets and showers being housed in a separate unit next to each individual block. In a nod to sustainability, 'grey' water from showers is used to water plants and trees after going through treatment process.
The lack of personal space comes as a shock given the genuine efforts to cater for the workers in other areas. However, one journalist, who has previously visited camps not as advanced as Challenger City, later observes: “Don't forget, the conditions for many workers here are far better than back at home.”
This strikes at the heart of the clash of cultures. Most western observers would reject such practice, yet labour camps have long been readily accepted in the region. Qatar could argue they are at least improving standards. Nevertheless, it still leaves the ECHO uneasy.
Challenger City, like many other camps, houses workers from South Africa, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, the Philippines and Turkey, as well as other African and Asian countries. Nationalities are often kept together in blocks to create small communities. “Create a home away from home,” says Van Dyk. “That's our motto and what we aim for.”
That the facilities are all free, which Van Dyk believes allows workers to concentrate on their jobs without other concerns. It's just as well there are no real extra costs, though. Migrant workers are paid a minimum of only 750 Qatari riyal a month – that's about £150. There are reported plans for that to double in the New Year, although some facilities, such as laundry, may then have to be paid for.
Still, it is some way short of the 15,000 riyal (£3,200) the average Qatari takes home every month. And there is no income tax, one of the reasons the country is such an attractive job market.
There have been other changes. The Qatari government last month endorsed new legislation allowing workers to change employers freely, with the Kafala system being abolished.
This system – also prevalent in several neighbouring countries – is used to monitor migrant labourers, with each worker required to have an in-country sponsor, usually their employer, who is responsible for their visa and legal status.
Human rights organisations have long argued this allows for exploitation of workers, as many employers take away passports and abuse workers without legal repercussions. Indeed, it has resulted in migrant workers referring to their employers as their “owners”.
Hassan Al Thawadi, the Secretary General of the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC), admitted last year that Qatar “was always committed on labour reforms, but as a result of the significant expansion and development that happened we fell short on enforcement”.
Things are changing, albeit slowly. “All workers at Challenger City have possession of their own passport,” says Van Dyk. “In other centres in the past that has not always been the case.”
But while the SC-related camps must adhere to strict rules, the same cannot be said for the others that house the majority of the country's migrant workers. Government enforcement remains the concern in those cases – progress is being made, but not quickly enough.
Other measures have been introduced to further improve conditions for workers. No work is allowed in exposed, unshaded areas between 10am-3pm in summer months, although the timings alter depending on when the sun is at its peak. Nevertheless, temperatures can still be extremely hot outside these times.
Special suits, called STAYQOOL, have been distributed since June, made by an American company that formerly supplied outfits to help cool down Formula 1 drivers while racing. And while it can successfully lower the average temperature by 8-15 degrees, only a small fraction of workers are at present able to use the suits.
There are some success stories among the migrant workers.
Generation Amazing, an initiative set up by an employee of the Supreme Committee but not officially under their umbrella, includes a football for development programme which involves 6,000 participants and folds into the local league pyramid.
Abdul Azeez, a Ghanaian who works as a lifting and rigging supervisor at Al Rayyan Stadium, shot to prominence during the Workers' Cup – which is organised by the SC and Qatar Stars League – and has emerged as a Generation Amazing coach and ambassador.
He met Brazil legend Cafu in Sao Paulo this year having earlier been introduced in Qatar, and is based in Challenger City.
“We all have different types of skills and are learning more here,” says Abdul, who has spent more than three-and-a-half years in Qatar. “But when we came here we didn't have the same skills as some of the other people. When you come here you realise you have to upgrade your skills.
“In Ghana the temperatures are very good, with warm and cold spell. It was a big shock come here in the summer – the temperature was very hot. What one thing could they do to improve things? Bring in artificial rain! I've seen in Saudi Arabia they can spray people – that would help.”
Abdul – who says Liverpool are his favourite club with, surprisingly, Milan Baros his favourite player – was joined by two fellow Ghanaians. “We are earning more here than back home – the currency exchange helps as well,” says one. “But we found it a bit difficult here at first because of the food. You have to cope with that. The African menu is not the same as what we are used to. We're happy to stay in Qatar. It's hard being away from home but we can send things back there.”
However, another highlights how Challenger City is not entirely representative of the average camp. “We have been in other accommodation and this is the best one,” he says. “When our friends from other accommodations come here they feel special.”
Clearly, they aren't all as accommodating as this facility. The Qatar government has committed to 450,000 workers to be housed in standards similar to those at Challenger City, but it's still only scratching at the surface.
Labor City, opened in 2015, holds almost 70,000 workers. And while Asian Town, an entertainment and shopping centre at the heart of Qatar's largest labour camp, at least provides a distraction with 950,000 visits a month, there are claims the government-owned venue is used to segregate workers from the general Qatari populace.
Liverpool fan groups, including the Spirit of Shankly, have expressed concern over the club playing in Qatar, citing human rights worries and the treatment of migrant workers.
British society will perhaps never comprehend the need or acceptance of labour camps. But if Challenger City proves anything, it's that, thanks in part to football, Qatar is listening and standards are improving. There remains a long, long way to go, however.
And while the focus will intensify when Jurgen Klopp's men and, in a further three years, the World Cup party rolls into town, what happens after that will be the true test of any legacy.
This story was first published on November 21 2019
