controversy surrounding the working conditions of employees in the hotel initially chosen by the Blues

In Qatar, the Al Messila hotel will be the base camp of the France team. The palace was visited by Didier Deschamps and Noël Le Graët, president of the French Football Federation. Both were conquered. The establishment is even approved by FIFA, which guarantees its best practices: no forced labor or violation of human rights. A few months later, a team from France Télévisions went to the palace, equipped with a hidden camera. Everywhere, journalists meet migrant workers.

Accompanied by their guide, who remains anonymous, the team identifies the homes where the employees are housed. Inside, the bathrooms are filthy and the kitchens unsanitary. A small bedroom is shared by four people. According to their information, the employees are deprived of rest days and their passports have been confiscated.

Back in France, the team showed the images to Noël Le Graët. “I’m going to discuss it with the director (…) it’s not unsanitary, it’s a coat of paint. There’s still time to fix that.”, he replies. Finally, the president of the FFF retracted and considered these practices “unacceptable“. He also said that the FFF supported the creation of a compensation fund demanded by NGOs for victims of work accidents on World Cup sites.