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
Bangladesh
In memory of

Mohammad Russel Parvez

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

Mohammad Russel Parvez

1987—2020
The body of Mohammad Russel Parvez was found in a trash bin in the Qatar few days before Christmas in 2020. He was 33 and an only son. Shirina Akhter Banu, his mother, received his body in the home village, Doulatpur, in western Bangladesh the following month. He was a construction worker, when he fell from a 10-story building, his mother says. After his death, the wife moved in with his parents. She was satisfied with the financial compensation from the company, but no money in the world can replace the loss of a human life, she says.
— 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
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
Bangladesh
In memory of

Keramat Ali

1970—2020
Years
of
Age
50
World
Cup
Qatar
22
cardsofqatar.com
Migrant worker
Bangladesh
In memory of

Keramat Ali

1970—2020
In May 2020, the family brought the body of 50-year-old Keramat Ali to Laksam in the Cumilla district of southeastern Bangladesh. He died due to a stroke in Qatar in April of that year. His wife and two children, a son and a daughter, are now struggling to make ends meet. - I am struggling with the interest rates of the loans and I will soon have to take my eleven-year-old out of school and send him to work, says widow Tahmina Akhter. She says that her parents have been able to help a lot, but that it is unsustainable in the long run.
— told to the journalistic platform Blankspot
FULL STORY
cardsofqatar.com
Migrant worker
Nepal
In memory of

Bine Bahadur Bishworkarma

1968—2020
Years
of
Age
52
World
Cup
Qatar
22
cardsofqatar.com
Migrant worker
Nepal
In memory of

Bine Bahadur Bishworkarma

1968—2020
Bine Bahadur Bishworkarma traveled to Qatar 20 years ago and worked until his death at a construction company. During all his years in Qatar, he always encouraged his children to study hard and try to get a job in Nepal. - He forbade the children to travel abroad and work, says the widow Nir Maya BK. When the pandemic struck, he became frightened. - His co-workers told me that they think he took his life because he was afraid of dying a painful death. We are now all like orphans. The whole family, says Nir Maya BK.
— told to the journalistic platform Blankspot
FULL STORY
cardsofqatar.com
Migrant worker
Bangladesh
In memory of

Mohammad Kaochar Khan

1983—2017
Years
of
Age
34
World
Cup
Qatar
22
cardsofqatar.com
Migrant worker
Bangladesh
In memory of

Mohammad Kaochar Khan

1983—2017
The Bangladeshi migrant worker Mohammad Kaochar Khan was fond dead in his bed on November 15, 2017 at the age of 34. In his death certificate as well as the certificate from the Bangladesh embassy in Qatar it says that his cause of death was “acute respiratory failure due to natural cause”. “His plan for migrating to Qatar was to collect a good amount of money so that he could educate his son and build a mansion”, says his younger brother Didarul Islam Khan who works for the government.
— told to the journalistic platform Blankspot
FULL STORY
cardsofqatar.com

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