Qatar’s migrant workers enjoy World Cup on the cheap

Argentina’s forward Lionel Messi’s wife Antonela Roccuzzo and her children attend the Qatar 2022 World Cup Group C football match with Jorge Messi (C), Lionel Messi’s father, between Argentina and Mexico at the Lusail Stadium in Lusail, north of Doha on November 26, 2022. (Photo by JUAN MABROMATA / AFP)

Shafeeq Saqafi paid three dollars for the Argentina shirt he proudly wore when sat with 15,000 other migrant workers in a hidden corner of Doha to watch Lionel Messi’s side salvage their World Cup.

Messi’s goal in the 2-0 win over Mexico brought the biggest crowd seen at the Asian Town stadium to their feet and Saqafi beat his chest in delight.

Saqafi and his friends bristle at European media suggestions that they are “fake fans” but readily acknowledge that they buy counterfeit team shirts for $3 or less, instead of the $90 cost of the official kit.

Argentina’s forward #10 Lionel Messi celebrates scoring the opening goal during the Qatar 2022 World Cup Group C football match between Argentina and Mexico at the Lusail Stadium in Lusail, north of Doha on November 26, 2022. (Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP)

Saqafi is one of the 2.5 million foreign workers who have been the foundation of Qatar’s economic miracle — helping pump oil and gas, building its World Cup stadiums and infrastructure, and staffing the dozens of new hotels that have opened in the past five years.

Rights groups say the workers have been massively abused. Qatar points out in reply to increased safety standards and salary protections in factories and at outdoor work sites, and reduced working hours in Qatar’s notoriously hot summer.

The stadium, in the Asian Town shopping complex on the outskirts of Doha, has become a daily draw for thousands of the poorest