Thousands of migrant workers have died since Qatar was awarded to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Read their stories.

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Since Qatar was awarded the 2022 FIFA World Cup, thousands of migrant workers have died. In search for answers, journalism platform Blankspot collected stories directly from their families. We then created Cards of Qatar – a catalogue of football cards that instead of facts about players tell the stories of the workers who never returned.

Read their stories and long form articles highlighting the reality of the situation for the migrant workers who built Qatar. Read more

THE CARDS


Migrant worker
Nepal
In memory of

Ghal Singh Rai

1999—2019
Years
of
Age
20
World
Cup
Qatar
22
cardsofqatar.com
Migrant worker
Nepal
In memory of

Ghal Singh Rai

1999—2019
Ghal Singh Rai worked as a cleaner in one of the camps where those who built Qatar's football stadiums lived. His family had paid $ 1,300 to a recruiting firm to get the job. But after just one week, he took his own life in October 2019. His colleagues in Qatar said he had hung himself from the ceiling fan. - There is a wound in his neck, but we have never received any further explanations. We have to believe what they tell us, says his father Saarki Bahadur Rai. The father often told the son not to worry. - I always told him to come home if he cannot live in Qatar. I told him that over and over again.
— told to the journalistic platform Blankspot
FULL STORY
cardsofqatar.com
Migrant worker
Nepal
In memory of

Amit Karki

1974—2021
Years
of
Age
47
World
Cup
Qatar
22
cardsofqatar.com
Migrant worker
Nepal
In memory of

Amit Karki

1974—2021
It has been over two decades since Khina Bista's husband, Amit Karki, first traveled to Qatar. – Quite honestly, we have not seen him much since we got married 12 years ago. I raised our two children here at home but they never got to know their father and now he is dead, says Khina Bista. After a day of work, he complained of pain and was driven to the hospital by his colleagues. – He was dead when they arrived. We were told that it was a heart attack, says Khina Bista. The family has received 700,000 nepalese rupees from the authorities and another 1.4 million rupees from the life insurance.
— told to the journalistic platform Blankspot
FULL STORY
cardsofqatar.com
Migrant worker
India
In memory of

Madhu Bollapally

1976—2019
Years
of
Age
43
World
Cup
Qatar
22
cardsofqatar.com
Migrant worker
India
In memory of

Madhu Bollapally

1976—2019
On November 18, 2019, Latha Bollapally received a call from Qatar. Her husband had had a heart attack the night before in his room. Ten days after his death, the body arrived at the village. He worked abroad for 12 years. - He never said anything about his salary or about the working conditions or how he lived. When he died, we received one thousand Indian rupees as compensation, says Brother Rajesh. The family knows very little about his life in Qatar. - He lived alone, cooked all his food by himself and when some relatives wanted to make contact with him, he distanced himself from them.
— told to the journalistic platform Blankspot
FULL STORY
cardsofqatar.com
Migrant worker
Nepal
In memory of

Durga Kumari Bhandari

1987—2020
Years
of
Age
33
World
Cup
Qatar
22
cardsofqatar.com
Migrant worker
Nepal
In memory of

Durga Kumari Bhandari

1987—2020
Narayan Prasad Parajuli and Durga Kumari Bhandari worked in Qatar. Married for 15 years. - Our life was good. Until one day my wife suddenly got a lightning headache, remembers Narayan Prasad Parajuli. At the hospital, the doctors assessed that she had a brain tumor. The treatment started immediately but she died after eight months. - I still have not told Nayan that his mother is dead. He still thinks she's in the hospital and he still texts her. Personally, I don’t think I will ever be happy again, says Narayan Prasad Parajuli.
— told to the journalistic platform Blankspot
FULL STORY
cardsofqatar.com
Migrant worker
Bangladesh
In memory of

Bishal Rayhan

2000—2020
Years
of
Age
20
World
Cup
Qatar
22
cardsofqatar.com
Migrant worker
Bangladesh
In memory of

Bishal Rayhan

2000—2020
In February 2020, the family picked up the body of their 20-year-old Bishal Rayhan's at the airport. The company did not say anything beside that he died in a car accident in Qatar's capital Doha on January 27, 2020. - He had only worked in Qatar for nine months when this happened, says his 47-year-old father Bipul Rayhan. After receiving the body, Bishal's mother has been paralyzed and the father is now trying to survive with his disabled wife and the two children in Bhairab in Kishorganj in central Bangladesh.
— told to the journalistic platform Blankspot
FULL STORY
cardsofqatar.com
Migrant worker
Bangladesh
In memory of

Mijanur Rahman

1985—2019
Years
of
Age
34
World
Cup
Qatar
22
cardsofqatar.com
Migrant worker
Bangladesh
In memory of

Mijanur Rahman

1985—2019
Mijanuar Rahman had been working in Qatar as private driver for eight years and recently changed employer. The widow Mosa Arifa Laizu says that her husband was in good health while he was in Bangladesh and that there where no record of heart disease while he lived in his home country. – It it hard for us to believe that MIjan died of heart attack in Qatar, she said.
— told to the journalistic platform Blankspot
FULL STORY
cardsofqatar.com

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