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Every four years millions of people gather together to watch the World Cup.
Whether you enjoy football or not, it is not difficult to see the impact that the World Cup has on people. The atmosphere is incredible. Nations come together to cheer for their countries with the hopes of bringing the golden trophy home.
However, when you have such a popular sport, there are bound to be side effects to sustainability. Let’s take a look at the World Cup 2022 to see how the World Cup can positively and negatively affect sustainability.
Case Study: World Cup 2022
Climate
On 2 December 2010, FIFA announced Qatar would host the World Cup 2022, 12 years in advance.
This caused a lot of controversy. The World Cup would have to be hosted in winter instead of summer, to avoid extreme levels of heat and the preparations would be costly.
Although the event was held in winter, players still ended up playing matches in the evenings in 30 degrees celsius heat. This meant that visitors, players and staff in Qatar would have to try and conquer the heat in Qatar. Resulting in outdoor air conditioning being installed throughout the World Cup stadiums.
The effects of the heat on the players and fans was nothing compared to the workers over the 12 years prior to the event.
Workers and Conditions
In 2012 Guardian journalist Pete Pattisson’s article "Revealed: Qatar's World Cup 'slaves'” went viral when he shed light on the conditions workers suffered during the construction of the World Cup 2022 facilities.
According to the article, workers were forced to work without pay, water and food, while working all day in the extreme desert heat. Workers had alleged that they had not been paid for months and had their salaries retained to stop them running away.
A worker claimed they had their ID card taken from them - “Our manager always promises he’ll issue [our cards] ‘next week’,” added a scaffolder who said he had worked in Qatar for two years without being given an ID card.
One Nepalese migrant employed at Lusail City development stated “I’m angry about how this company is treating us, but we’re helpless. I regret coming here, but what to do? We were compelled to come just to make a living, but we’ve had no luck.”
"The overall picture is of one of the richest nations exploiting one of the poorest to get ready for the world’s most popular sporting tournament." -Pete Pattisson
The World Cup Stadiums
On the positive side, FIFA claimed that this was the first FIFA World Cup to feature a dedicated programme to manage stadium energy, water and waste impacts through design, construction and operations. All eight tournament stadiums achieved Global Sustainability Assessment System building certification.
Some of the sustainable measures they took were:
Each stadium was designed to be available for reuse and accessible via public transport, which was free to use.
Over 100 electric vehicle charging stations were installed across Qatar.
Electric vehicles were used during the tournament, including 741 electric public buses (25% of the total bus provision).
79% of stadium construction was reused and recycled.
15% of construction supplies were obtained from sustainably sourced materials
Uniforms for work staff and volunteers were made from recycled materials.
Key Takeaways
Although FIFA tried to implement a sustainable method of preparation towards the most recent World Cup, there is still a long way to go.
The conditions faced by workers in the construction of the stadium highlight the need for stakeholder accountability and due diligence. It is important that we keep working towards finding more sustainable solutions and not settle with a process that is not yet good enough.
Hopefully, we see more sustainable practices taking place in the future World Cups, to avoid the mistakes that have been made in the past.
Players, staff and fans must be educated on the importance of sustainability, to ensure future generations can still enjoy “The Beautiful Game”.
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