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

Read their stories.

PLAY VIDEO

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
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
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

Sujan Mia

1988—2020
Years
of
Age
32
World
Cup
Qatar
22
cardsofqatar.com
Migrant worker
Bangladesh
In memory of

Sujan Mia

1988—2020
Sujan often told his family about the severe heat in Qatar. He also complained that he did not manage to get any good jobs.  “Sometimes he worked in a construction site in Doha and would get $219 monthly.  Sometime he would remain out of work”. Sujan did not have the time or the money to visit his home after going to Qatar. During his three year long period abroad, he did not come back home a single time. The family had plans for marrying him off soon after he returned home from Qatar. But he died abroad.
— told to the journalistic platform Blankspot
FULL STORY
cardsofqatar.com
Migrant worker
India
In memory of

Srinivas Narukulla

1981—2020
Years
of
Age
39
World
Cup
Qatar
22
cardsofqatar.com
Migrant worker
India
In memory of

Srinivas Narukulla

1981—2020
Srinivas was a crane operator in Qatar and worked for a local construction company. - I was told that he died due to “natural causes” but I do not believe that. How can a completely healthy man just die on the spot? I think he was killed, says Sriniva's wife Anitha Narukulla. Srinivas was an esteemed worker. In 2019, he received a smartphone from his boss. - My husband told me that several of the colleagues became jealous. They started fighting, Anitha remembers. Two months later, he was dead. When the body came in a package, there was a smaller package next to it. In it lay the phone.
— told to the journalistic platform Blankspot
FULL STORY
cardsofqatar.com
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
Bangladesh
In memory of

Shohag Madbar

1990—2020
Years
of
Age
30
World
Cup
Qatar
22
cardsofqatar.com
Migrant worker
Bangladesh
In memory of

Shohag Madbar

1990—2020
On May 15, 2020, migrant Shohag Madbar died at his room at the age of 30. The death certificate from the Qatari government mentiones the cause of death as a “heart attack”. Due to the uncertain job situation and the irregular wage, Shohag lived with a constant tension. The family believes the pressure caused a “mental shock”. When asked, Shohag’s uncle Md Kamal Uddin said that the family had been struggling since his death. – Shohag’s father who is a farmer his mother and their two daughters lost all dreams when they sent their only young breadearner to Qatar.
— told to the journalistic platform Blankspot
FULL STORY
cardsofqatar.com

BLANKSPOT ARTICLES