‘Many migrant workers will die’: the likely human cost of awarding the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia

Millions of migrants will build stadiums, transport networks and hotels. But testimonies from Bangladeshis who have worked there suggest abuse is deeply entrenched in the Gulf kingdom

When Shahadat set out for Saudi Arabia from his village in Bangladesh, he was driven by a single purpose: to earn money for his impoverished family. “If he sent money home, his family would eat. If he didn’t, they wouldn’t,” says a relative.

For years he just about scraped by, sending a little money home each month and trying to pay down the huge debt he took on to afford the illegal fees a recruitment agent had charged him to get to Saudi Arabia.

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