A long awaited and much hyped announcement on a reform of 2022 World Cup host Qatar’s controversial kafala or labour sponsorship system has sparked more questions than answers and cost? the Gulf state an opportunity to gain the upper hand in a bruising debate that has significantly tarnished its image.

Confusion over what the proposed reforms meant was such that Sepp Blatter, president of world soccer body FIFA, and Theo Zwanziger, the FIFA executive dealing with the Qatari labour issue cancelled a planned trip to the Gulf state. FIFA has come under severe criticism for failing to take harsh workers’ conditions into consideration when it awarded the World Cup to Qatar in December 2010.

The confusion stemmed from the fact that the reforms appeared to involve a refinement of the kafala system rather than an overall overhaul or abolition as the government claimed. It was further fuelled by the announcement that future labour contracts would have to be in line with a model contract drafted by the government, the terms of which have yet to be disclosed.

… James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore and the author of the blog, The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer.

A long awaited and much hyped announcement on a reform of 2022 World Cup host Qatar in response to condemnation of its controversial kafala or labour sponsorship system has sparked more questions than answers and cost‎s the Gulf state an opportunity to gain the upper hand in a bruising debate that has significantly tarnished its image.

Confusion over what reforms Qatar intends to implement was such that Sepp Blatter, president of world football body FIFA, and Theo Zwanziger, the FIFA executive dealing with the Qatari labour issue have cancelled a planned trip to the Gulf state. FIFA has come under severe criticism for failing to take harsh workers’ conditions into consideration when it awarded the World Cup to Qatar in December 2010.

The confusion stemmed from the fact that reforms announced earlier this month appeared to involve a refinement of the kafala system rather than an overall overhaul or abolition as the government claimed. It was further fuelled by a Qatari statement that future labour contracts would have to be in line with a model contract drafted by the government, the terms of which have yet to be disclosed.

… James M. Dorsey is a Senior Fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University. He is also co-director of the University of Würzburg’s Institute for Fan Culture, and the author ofThe Turbulent World of Middle East Soccerblog and a forthcoming book with the same title.