Five days are missing for the start of the Qatar 2022 World Cup and all eyes are already focused on the Arab country. Not only because of the expectations of the football matches that will be played and the show that will lead a team to achieve the championship, but also because of the costly organization of the World Cup in this country.
The previous World Cup, Russia 2018, cost more than 14.000 million dollars, according to CNBC. How does Qatar 2022 compare to this and other World Cups?
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Qatar 2022: the most expensive World Cup in history
The new football World Cup that will start on November 20 is the most expensive in history. But that is not the biggest news, but how much more expensive it is. So far, Brazil 2014 was the World Cup that had the highest budget.
While Russia 2018 cost 14.000 million dollars and Brazil 2014 15.000 million, Qatar 2022 has cost 229.000 million dollars. It is, by far, a much more expensive World Cup than the previous ones.
Qatar 2022 World Cup: this will be the 22nd edition of a World Cup. Photo: composition by Fabrizio Oviedo/La Republica
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In fact, Qatar 2022 costs more than double what all World Cups have cost since 2002. Here is the list of approximate costs in dollars for each World Cup, as reported by Bloomberg, CNBC, and Business Insider.
- South Korea - Japan 2002 - 6.500 million dollars
- Germany 2006 - 6.200 million dollars
- South Africa 2010 - 3.900 million dollars
- Brazil 2014 - 15.000 million dollars
- Russia 2018 - 14.000 million dollars
- Qatar 2022 - 229.000 million dollars
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Qatar 2022: More exorbitant figures in the Arab country
But this excess is not the only one. A journalistic investigation published in February 2021 by the British newspaper The Guardian stated that at least 6.500 immigrant workers have died in Qatar since 2010, when it was chosen as the host of the FIFA World Cup 2022.
Investigation revealed a little-known side of World Cup organization. Photo: FIFA Word Cup/Amnesty International/Composition LR
The victims came from countries like India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka in search of opportunities to improve their quality of life. Official figures from Qatar, however, indicate that until early 2021, there were 37 deaths directly related to the construction of stadiums for the World Cup, according to The Guardian report.