Blood, sweat and tears (but no reward)
An international football tournament takes blood, sweat and tears, but after the final whistle awaits eternal glory. And a gigantic pot of gold.
But the prize money only goes to those who dribbled, sprinted, kicked and scored. In short: those who gave the best of themselves on the pitch. But the hundreds of thousands of migrant workers who toiled in harrowing, degrading conditions to build the stadiums for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar were not invited to pass by the cash register. That is, if they were still alive to witness the finals. No less than 6,500 workers perished even before referee Daniele Orsato’s whistle kicked off the first game. Especially in the last stretch before the tournament, this gruesome news feat was drowned in a tsunami of stories about the teams and star players.
Make people aware of the harrowing fate of the thousands of migrant workers who made the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar possible.
A creative campaign urging the general public to sign the international petition.
Help build the 3D-Workers World Cup
In the final weeks before the tournament, Amnesty decided to shift up another gear. The organization was given the opportunity to broadcast its message to the hundreds of thousands of football fans who followed the World Cup broadcasts on national Belgian television. So we turned the Workers World Cup concept into a 30-second TV spot showing a construction worker in a football stadium holding up our worker’s trophy. The call to action at the end of the spot incites people to sign the petition on the Amnesty website.
In addition, we provided a creative online activation: with every signature under the petition, our 3D printer would add a layer to a real plastic Workers Cup trophy. Those who signed the form received a photo of the 3D printing progress. Thanks to 10,000 signatures we were able to print the entire World Cup: a symbolic shot at the goal of FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
"We demand that FIFA provide compensation to migrant workers who were victims of human rights violations during the World Cup in Qatar. The Workers World Cup was a creative way for us to highlight the 'hardest working team' of World Cup workers, and increase pressure on FIFA and Qatar."
Griet Ryckeboer, Communications, Amnesty International België
Turn up the heat
More than 10,000 people signed the petition, and the Amnesty website received no fewer than 15,800 visitors. However, months after Lionel Messi and his teammates received eternal fame and a huge cash prize, FIFA did not yet install the requested compensation fund for the aggrieved workers. So, Amnesty decided to continue the campaign and aim for 15,000 signatures.
President Infantino may not lose one second of sleep over the continued pressure from Amnesty, but our campaign certainly means huge support to the many thousands of people who made the first World Cup in the Arab world possible, with their blood, sweat and tears. For iO it is absolutely clear who the real winners are.
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