Qatar World Cup boss says event will not be built on 'blood of innocent migrant workers'

Qatar 2022 World Cup's chief executive Hassan al-Thawadi has said that workers' rights were the tournament's top priority and it would not be built on 'blood of innocents'.

According to the Guardian, after an investigation that showed dozens of Nepalese had been killed in recent weeks alone and warnings from unions that the death toll could reach 4,000 before a ball is kicked if conditions do not improve, Thawadi said that it was unacceptable to anybody and to them.

The focus of a meeting of Fifa's executive committee was expected to be the shift of the 2022 World Cup to winter to avoid the searing heat of the summer, but Fifa insiders revealed the renewed pressure over workers' rights had changed the terms of the debate, the report said.

Unions protested outside Fifa House and called on world football's governing body to do more to pressure the Qatar government on the issue, the report added.

The Fifa president, Sepp Blatter, is expected to address the topic on Friday at the conclusion of the two-day meeting, the report further said.

Thawadi pointed to a workers' rights charter drawn up by the Qatar 2022 supreme committee and said it had been working with Human Rights Watch and Amnesty on the issue for some time, according to the report.

He insisted that the decision to bring the World Cup to the Middle East for the first time would accelerate progress in improving the rights of the migrant workers who are fuelling the rapid development of the infrastructure required, the report mentioned.