GARY NEVILLE believes football must now accept the 2022 World Cup WILL be hosted in Qatar.
The Gulf state has faced significant issues since being awarded the finals in 2010.
Ex-England defender Gary Neville reckons the World Cup in Qatar in 2022 could help bring beneficial change to the Middle East
Gary Neville accepts there have been big problems in Qatar but says the World Cup should go to places like the Middle East
They include allegations of corruption over the bidding process and the country’s treatment of foreign workers helping to build the stadia.
But exactly three years from today, all eyes will be on the £650million, 86,000-capacity Lusail Stadium, which will host the World Cup final.
And while former England and Manchester United defender Neville agrees there are several worries that must still be addressed, he also feels the tournament can be the biggest driver of social change the Middle East has ever seen.
Neville said: “We’ve got to get our heads around the fact that the World Cup in Qatar is going to happen. Nobody is going to stop it now.
WORKERS RIGHTS TAKEN AWAY
“I was a supporter of having a World Cup in the Middle East. In the 21st century, to suggest we shouldn’t have a World Cup in a large region of the world is just wrong.
“Fundamentally, it’s the ‘World’ Cup and that is a tournament that should be responsible for driving change in other continents.”
Neville, though, is not blind to the issues of workers’ and human rights that have dogged the Qataris.
As part of a Sky documentary, Gary Neville in Qatar, he visited the country to ask top-ranking government chiefs about key issues.
Neville admits in the programme he found it difficult to witness the living conditions of the 6,000 migrant workers housed in ‘Recreation City’, revealing: “Sadness goes through your body.”
The International Trades Union Confederation suggests some 4,000 foreign workers have died as part of the £5billion construction project — although the Qatari authorities claim there were just THREE building-related fatalities and 22 other deaths.
“There were workers from developing countries around the world building stadiums costing hundreds of millions of pounds but earning salaries that were wrong, in poor conditions and having their rights taken away from them.
“I think ‘trafficking’ is perhaps too strong a word for it but it was very close to that.
Neville told SunSport: “The spotlight has been shone on them. They have been forced by the likes of Amnesty International to make those changes.
“That has changed quite a bit. Ultimately that’s because the eyes of the world have been on them.
“The migrant workers spoke freely to me. They told me some horrific things, especially about having to pay agents $2,000-$3,000 to get into the country and then not being allowed to leave their jobs and find another one.
“Some of the accommodation they were in was uncomfortable. We wouldn’t think they were acceptable conditions to live in.
“But I’ve also had the same feeling visiting shanty towns in South Africa, the favelas in Brazil, and nobody denied those countries the right to host the World Cup.”
Despite his concerns, Neville believes a country nearly 20 times smaller than Great Britain can stage “one of the better World Cups, for players, fans, everybody”.
He added: “The stadiums are the most ready you will ever see three years out. They are spectacular, works of art.
“The atmospheres in the stadiums will be special. I feel this World Cup can drive huge change.”
Gary Neville in Qatar is available on Sky Sports from today.
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
