Qatar, FIFA playing 'blame game' over 2022 WC while migrant workers pay with lives

The British media has said that FIFA and Qatar are playing an expensive 'blame game' at the cost of migrant workers dying to make the 2022 Qatar World Cup possible.

According to Metro.co.uk, the last few weeks have seen everyone from football officials to architects rushing forward to decry the plight of workers in Qatar, before stating very clearly it is not their fault.

The report said that the World Cup has been steeped in controversy from the moment FIFA awarded it to Qatar in 2010 in a controversial vote reeking of corruption and bribery, adding that the tournament has thrown the majority of the world's footballing calendar into chaos.

However, the report added that far more serious have been claims about the ultimate cost- the workers' deaths- being paid to stage the World Cup in Qatar, adding that much of the criticism of Qatar centred on the kafala system, which essentially confers quasi-ownership rights over employees or migrant labourers.

Although FIFA deplored the conditions of the workers' impossible, it also made it clear that the football's world governing body was not about to take any of the blame, or too much responsibility for bringing about change.

On the other hand, the organisers of the tournament washed their hands of the problems and pointed the blame at the Qatari government, which sent a letter to the European parliament in Brussels stating around 2,000 companies had been blacklisted last year and almost 500 so far this year for questionable employment practices.

However, the Qatar human rights body went a step further, saying that the deaths of the Indian workers are 'normal'.