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Reporter's note

A World Cup stadium built by migrant workers trapped in slave-like conditions, their paltry wages unpaid for months while they toil through 10-hour shifts in the searing summer heat. Sound familiar?

Only this is not Qatar 2022, but the findings of our investigation into the first new proposed stadium for the 2034 World Cup in Saudi Arabia.

The news that Fifa has awarded the right to host the 2034 tournament to the Gulf kingdom carries with it an inescapable sense of “Here we go again". Football’s greatest showcase will once more be marred by the widespread abuse of low-wage migrant workers in an authoritarian Gulf state.

There is a temptation just to shrug, and think that is the way of football these days. Certainly, that seems to have been the response of some football associations, with Germany and Denmark – two of the harshest critics of the tournament in Qatar – both embracing the Saudi Arabian bid.

Expect the Saudis to play on this sentiment. They will claim – just as Qatar did – that they are introducing meaningful labour reforms and that all countries have human rights challenges. They may eventually try to equate criticism with racism.

For 10 years, I investigated the appalling treatment of low-wage migrant workers in Qatar for the Guardian. And despite the cynicism of some, and the despair of others, it’s a line of reporting I intend to continue in Saudi Arabia because it matters to the people that matter: migrant workers and their families.

This week, I am in Nepal interviewing the families of young men who died on the job in Saudi Arabia. After listening to one particularly heartbreaking story, a relative approached me and said: “Thank you. What you are doing is really important. You have come from far away to bring these stories to light. Please keep doing it.”
Pete Pattisson, reporter

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