Rich Qatar Cup spoils, but not for workers

Taking selfies from the stands and sitting on the grassy pitch, thousands of migrant workers were at a Doha stadium to see the opening match of the first Middle East football World Cup.

The special fan zone set up at the industrial area on the city’s outskirts includes a stadium with giant TV screen and another big screen outside for an overflow crowd.

It sits adjacent to several worker camps where many of Qatar’s hundreds of thousands of low-income labourers live.

“We are here to enjoy our sweat now,” said Ronald Ssenyondo, 25, of Uganda, rooting for Qatar on Sunday. He worked under the sun in Qatar for two years. “I am just overwhelmed with the things I’m seeing now,” he said.

Gas-rich Qatar is home to 2.9-million people, the vast majority of them foreign workers, low-income construction workers to senior executives.

Rights groups say authorities fail to protect lower-income workers — including those who built the stadiums and hotels to host World Cup fans — from overwork, unpaid wages and poor living conditions.

The government says it enacted labour reforms, including a minimum monthly wage of 1,000 Qatari rials, or about $275, more than many can earn back home.

The opener’s match tickets averaged $200, but the industrial fan zone was free. Thousands piled in to cheer on Qatar on Monday, groaning as the match ended with Ecuador’s win 2-0.

Some said it was the closest they would get to a game all month. “I’m supporting my sisters and brothers in Ethiopia by sending money back so I’m coming here because tickets are too much,” said Ali Jammal, who worked in Qatar for five years.

A nurse from Nepal, one of a few women watching, said she could not watch any other matches because of her long shifts at a hospital.

Mohammad Ansar, an Indian who has worked in Qatar for months, said he was volunteering with Fifa at two of the upcoming matches, so he would get in to watch them live.

But on Sunday, he was grateful to watch on a screen with fellow workers. “With this stadium for free, they’re considering poor people also,” he said.