BBC Learning English. I’m Neil.

And I’m Beth.

Every four years the best players in the

world gather for one month in the summer

to take part in the biggest event in football –

the World Cup.

But this year, for the first time ever, the

competition is taking place in winter.

Why? Because the 2022 World Cup is

happening in Qatar.

Over a million fans from all over the world

are expected to visit Qatar for the World Cup

which starts on the 20th of November.

Because temperatures in Qatar exceed 45

degrees in the summer, the competition

was moved to the winter.

But the decision to hold the World Cup

in the tiny, oil-rich Gulf

state has been controversial.

One of the richest countries in the world,

Qatar has no tradition of playing football and

some have criticised the focus on money

instead of sport.

And there are other criticisms too – about

human rights and the treatment of the migrant

construction workers who built the football

stadiums, roads, transport systems and hotels

without which the World Cup could not happen.

In this programme we’ll be asking:

is it right for

Qatar to host the World Cup?

And of course,

we’ll be learning some new and useful

vocabulary as well.

But before that I have a question for you Beth.

Which country has won the World Cup

the most times?

Is it: a) Italy b) Brazil or, c) Germany?

I think it must be Brazil.

OK, I’ll reveal the answer at the end of

the programme.

Advertising for the Qatar World Cup shows

football fans staying in new hotels and

watching matches in air-conditioned stadiums.

But hidden behind this, the lives of the migrant

workers from Nepal, India and other South Asian

countries reveal a very different story.

The population of Qatar is tiny and 95% of

the total workforce are foreigners

working in extreme heat,

housed in poor quality accommodation,

and often underpaid.

Rothna Begum, a researcher for Human

Rights Watch, explained their situation

to BBC World Service programme,

Business Daily:

We’re still recording and documenting

migrant workers facing abuse

and exploitation in Qatar.

They include workers reporting having

paid exorbitant and illegal recruitment fees

to secure work abroad on two-year contracts,

and then finding out they’re

coming on three-month visas,

which means that they're not able

to make up or recoup

the price that they've paid to actually get

this job, and may well be

sent home in debt on top

of everything else.

Migrant workers face exploitation.

Exploitation means treating someone

unfairly to get some advantage for yourself.

Many of the World Cup workers were

exploited by being paid less

than agreed, being

paid late, or not being paid at all.

The construction jobs seemed

a good opportunity for migrant workers

to save money to send home

to their families.

Many paid exorbitant fees –

fees which were much bigger

than they should be, just

to get a job in Qatar.

But despite being given two-year

job contracts, some workers were

only allowed to stay three months.

Because they couldn’t make

enough money, many returned

home in debt – owing money to

someone that they will

have to pay back.

What’s worse, many have

died building the football stadiums,

in accidents, or due to

overwork and heat stress.

So, with all this criticism,

added to the billions of dollars

Qatar spent preparing for the

competition, was it worth it?

James Dawsey is an expert on the

politics of football in the

Middle East.

Here he explains to BBC World

Service’s, Business Daily,

that for Qatar, hosting the World Cup

is more about improving its

international reputation than economics:

But this is not about economics for Qatar.

Qatar is a small state.

It is sandwiched between

two regional behemoths:

Saudi Arabia and Iran.

And so its whole policy

is geared towards soft power,

whether that's sports, whether

that's the airport and the airline…

Qatar may be rich

thanks to its oil,

but it’s not a large country

unlike neighbouring Saudi Arabia

and Iran, countries which

James Dawsey called behemoths –

something which is extremely large

and powerful.

Qatar is sandwiched

between these larger counties.

If you’re sandwiched between two

things you’re in a narrow,

tight space between them.

Because Qatar isn’t as powerful

as it’s bigger neighbours,

it uses soft power – the way a

country uses its economic and

cultural influence to persuade

other countries, instead of

using military power.

Hosting an important international

event like the World Cup is a part of

Qatar’s soft power strategy

to be considered an important

country on the world stage.

Whatever the rights

and wrongs of the debate,

this will be the first Arab nation

to host the World Cup,

although it’s unlikely that the Qatari

team will actually win -

unlike a more famous footballing nation,

Italy, who won the first World

Cup they hosted in 1934.

And speaking of World Cup winners,

what was the answer to your question, Neil?

Which country has won the most World Cups?

I guessed it was Brazil…

Which was…. the correct answer of course!

With five title wins, Brazil

is the most successful World Cup

team followed closely by Italy and

Germany with four titles each.

OK, let’s recap the vocabulary we’ve learned

starting with exploitation -

treating someone unfairly in

order to benefit yourself.

If the price of something is exorbitant,

it’s much higher than it should be.

A debt is an amount of money

that you owe to someone else.

A behemoth refers to something

which is extremely large and powerful.

And if you’re sandwiched between

two things, you’re in a in a tight,

narrow space between them.

And finally, soft power describes

strategies used by a country to increase

its power through economic

and cultural influences,

instead of fighting wars.

Once again, our six minutes are up.

Goodbye for now!

Bye!