By Andrew Warshaw
December 11 – Three years after winning the bid to stage the 2022 World Cup by a landslide vote, Qatar’s organising chief is back on the offensive, rebuffing any suggestion that the Gulf state was guilty of any impropriety. Hassan Al-Thawadi, Secretary General, Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee, insists Qatar complied with FIFA regulations and that allegations to the contrary have “absolutely no basis”.
December 10 – Ministers of sport and representatives of sports bodies from over 20 countries have urged policy makers to change their outlook and give sport greater priority as a tool for change.
December 9 – Sports ministers from across the world were convening in Qatar today to explore the idea of creating a G20 sports grouping to mirror the economic equivalent. Sports officials from a raft of nations including South Africa, Brazil, Mexico and Italy were taking part in the summit as part of the three-day Doha Goals conference.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 6 – FIFA president Sepp Blatter has appealed to Qatar’s critics to “calm down” over questioning its suitability to stage the 2022 World Cup but insists his organisation will not shirk from its responsibilities to monitor the issue of workers’ rights in the Gulf state which has caused such widespread alarm.
By Paul Nicholson
December 4 – Put aside winter or summer 2022 and overseas players’ contracts and workers’ rights generally - big issues that have to be dealt with – what else is happening in Qatar? Is there actually any football being played or is that on hold until 2022?
By Andrew Warshaw
December 2 – The international players’ union FIFPro has again urged Qatar’s World Cup organisers to abolish the kafala employment system for footballers in the wake of the Zahir Belounis case that made worldwide headlines following meetings with Qatar 2022 officials at the weekend with players’ contracts and rights at the top of the agenda.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 29 – Zahir Belounis, the French-Algerian footballer who has returned home after finally securing his exit permit to leave Qatar courtesy of a wave of international support, says he has nothing against the country itself but everything against the club that hired him.
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
November 28 – Zahir Belounis, the French-Algerian footballer finally granted his exit visa from Qatar, would not have been allowed to leave without huge international pressure on the Qatari authorities, according to his brother. But, claims Mahdi Belounis, hundreds of thousands of Euros owed to Zahir – who had claimed 18 months of unpaid wages – remained unpaid right up until his departure from the Gulf state today.
By Paul Nicholson and Andrew Warshaw
November 27 – Trapped French-Algerian footballer Zahir Belounis’ was finally granted his exit visa today and will leave Qatar on Thursday, bringing to an end a tortuous saga that made worldwide headlines and heaped embarrassment on the Qatari authorities.
By Paul Nicholson
November 26 – International players union FIFPro is sending a delegation to Qatar on a four-day visit (November 28-31) to hold urgent talks with the country’s football authorities and organisers of the Qatar 2022 World Cup regarding the rights of players and in particular the plight of French footballer Zahar Belounis who has been trapped in the country by the kafala work visa system.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 25 – Zahir Belounis, the journeyman footballer trapped in Qatar claiming 18 months of unpaid wages, may be on the verge of winning his battle to get out of the country. The plight of the French-Algerian, who says he is a ‘destroyed’ man after being forced to sell all his possessions, has caused outrage among human rights organisations and has added to global concern over Qatar’s notorious kafala employment system that ties migrant workers to so-called ‘sponsors’.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 22 – The European Parliament is the latest body to denounce Qatar’s treatment of migrant workers with a powerful demand to the authorities to radically improve human rights and put an to end to “forced and slave labour”.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 21 – Just days after Amnesty International’s explosive report into what it described as the endemic mistreatment of migrant workers in Qatar, FIFA president Sepp Blatter has wracked up the pressure on the Qatari authorities to ensure the safety of those working on 2022 World Cup projects.
By Andrew Warshaw in Doha
November 18 – Qatar’s 2022 World Cup organisers have agreed to maintain an ongoing dialogue with Amnesty International in the wake of the most explosive report to date into workers’ rights violations in the country.
By Andrew Warshaw in Doha
November 18 – Qatar’s 2022 World Cup organisers admit they are becoming “deeply frustrated” by constant negative headlines over whether the country deserves to stage the tournament but will not let all the adverse publicity sidetrack them.