Qatar World Cup: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

I'm impressed that John correctly predicted that England would lose in the quarterfinals. Someone should give him a raise.

HBO is legendary for putting whole episodes of Last Week Tonight on KRclip.

I cant be the only one who laughed at the Fifa representative literally choking on his words when he said "human rights".

Update: the media forgot about the human rights abuses and covered the cup enthusiastically

I like how the American audience didn't grasp how hot it is in Qatar until John converted from Celsius to Fahrenheit.

"Cheering on England until they're inevitably knocked out in the quarter-finals on penalties" this aged like a fine wine

I know it's a terrible topic, but I laughed way too hard at the audience ahhhhing at the temperature after John converted it to Fahrenheit

Say why you want about John, but he was spot on about Englands place in the world cup

Putting pressure on countries like Qatar and UAE (that's Dubai and few other Emirates) actually works. Years ago, as the result of focus on workers rights, UAE enacted a series of reforms. For example, outdoors work had to stop when/if temperatures rose above 42 C (which is already very hot.) Mysteriously, ever since then, the official temperature report in UAE hardly ever goes above 42 C.

massive respect for shining the spotlight where people don't want it shone upon

I love how John absolutely picked the outcome for England, several weeks ago 😂

I used to live in Rio, Brazil and it would hit 50 degrees in the summer some days. The government would send out water trucks to dose the businesses and some people who asked to get sprayed. It was so incredibly hot and humid that if just got out of the shower and dried yourself off. By the time you wrapped the towel and started walking to your room your entire body would be sweaty. (No most people don't have AC, and if they do its just in room of the house to save costs) I can't imagine doing any actual labour in that type of environment without straight up passing out. Reminds me of the old movies of Egyptian slaves working to build temples in the heat while getting whipped. So damn sad

The way audience's reaction changed from nothing when hearing 52C to a big *gasp* after knowing 125F was really funny.

This is why we always need to push against goonies like this. No matter what you do, if they could pay you less they would. This is what it use to be for all workers and slowly we got things like minimum wage and days off. Never stop, they have more to give than we could ever know.
Edit: And also why we need to be *thankful* to those who came before and sacrificed so we have our own heated homes with all the amenities once only reserved for royalty. We have come far and we must never become complacent ❤️✊🏼

Loved that guy's face when he said to the reporter.."you have been to the housing area?"

The face of that official when the journalist told him he's been there and saw everything was priceless.

Australia consistently bids to host the world cup but we keep losing out to other countries. I guess we just cannot match their shady under the table bribes!

Thank you to the LWT team for reporting on this. Im Malayalee and my family has so many people who have worked and dealt with the shittiness of working in countries like UAE, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. It’s appalling and disgusting what my people have done to essentially build there economy, only for their bodies to be collateral for elf wages. It’s a shame, especially bc we’re Muslim, and I find that these nations use their religion to justify slavery and homophobia especially against other Muslims.

"A cartel-like group of scumbags and assorted criminals who ocassionaly put on soccer matches." This is by far the best FIFA's description I've ever heard of.

Great story. He should do an update given everything that has happened since the tournament started like FIFA bowing to pressure from Qatar on the armbands!

John's impression of David Beckham was so good lol

I always like watching you. Everything has a good and bad side, and you get to the heart of it and don't back down because the topics are difficult. Plus, I still laugh, even though it's a little depressing.

Thank you John for highlighting the disgusting way these poor men are treated

I usually don’t like late night talk shows but this was brilliant

I'm a Kenya who works in Qatar, and John has got it right again. Last week John talked on what happened to us in the past and now the present.... thank you.

Ever since your first video about FIFA's practices, I've actively stopped following the world cup. The excitement I used to get from it as a kid and young adult, has really soured knowing how shameless of an organization FIFA is.

We are so lucky to have a show like yours, who is not afraid to speak the truth. I'm very proud about the freedom of expression which often is taken for granted in the West.

Couldn't watch the World Cup this time. Watched a game in Brazil, followed Russia, but I can't stop thinking about FIFA and the people who died to build this cash grab scheme.
Thank you, John

I love John Oliver. He puts a spotlight with humor on many topics but 60 minutes covers and gets respect. Love you John! Keep going You're going to change the world in a small way my friend.

Really impressed with real football fans that didn't watch the world cup. I only watch a match or two from the world cup, so easy for me to boycott, but I know full on hardcore football fans that didn't watch, very impressive.

My mom was deployed to Qatar when I was younger, and she used to write home and tell us about how birds would just fall out of the sky dead when they hit these pockets of particularly strong heat. I can't even begin to imagine laboring there.

the whole thing in Qatar with the migrant workers has been going on for decades. I worked in Qatar for 2 years (1998 to 2000). I'm English and we still had to have a sponsor to even get the visas to work in the country, we had to have ID cards (you had to have a medical and there were hundreds of people lined up to go into basically containers fitted with chairs and tables, to give blood, which was taken by completely untrained people). We actually still had to pay the sponsor a monthly fee and visit their offices ever 4 months to show we were still there. In the time I spent there I think we only ever interacted with maybe two or three actual Qatari nationals and of course you always had to bow and scrape to them because of the power they have in the country. We even heard stories of Qatari drivers who had run someone down with their car and were not fined or had any backlash BECAUSE they were Qatari and the person killed was a migrant worker. Many of the workers we did meet were from very poor regions (like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Burma, Nepal and Sri Lanka) and they were still making more money than they could at home because they lived in shacks with tin roofs and no air-conditioning and lived mainly off rice. In fact a couple of the Sri Lankans were there because they were on the run from being drafted by the Tamil Tigers.

When I deployed to Qatar most of the workers didn’t speak English but alot of them played chess so I hung out with them a good amount, and it’s so fun making people who can’t understand you laugh.

Thanks for this episode. We also saw how Qatar supported irans dictatorship and didn't allow anyone to support women and freedom rights in iran. They even wouldn't let anyone wear the woman,life, freedom t-shirt in there. They're the disgrace

Thank you for exposing this travesty, John. Excellent work by you and your staff.

John is thankfully wrong about one thing: under FIFA’s own 2017 rules, Saudi Arabia can’t host the 2030 event. They’re classified as a part of Asia under the divisions, so no World Cup for them. Current front runners to host are either a joint bid from Argentina and Uruguay, a joint Iberian bid from Spain and Portugal, or a solo bid by John’s very own England.

To add some context to the environment those stadium workers had to deal with: I was deployed there as a Navy Corpsman in a USMC unit back in 2014. The Navy/Marines use a system called the WBGT (Wet Bulb Globe Test) index. When it is over 90, all non-essential activity is prohibited as a severe risk of heat stroke, dehydration, etc. This is known as "Black Flag". Over the summer (we arrived in August), it was Black Flag before the sun even rose, and was often into the low 130s. The heat is exacerbated by the extreme humidity (it was often over 90% humidity when we were there), so your sweat doesn't evaporate, which means your body can't cool off naturally, and you have an increased risk of heat injuries. When that man said it felt like it was raining, that's not an exaggeration. As soon as you left an air-conditioned space, your clothes soaked through with sweat in 5-10 minutes. It felt like what I imagine being in an oven would be like.
Our commanding officer cancelled a lot of our training, includeing MCMAP (Marine Corps Martial Arts Program). We were finishing up a Brown Belt course, and about to start Black Belt, and we were having heat injuries, even training at 5 a.m. to avoid the heat. In my time in the military I've been to CA, NM, AZ, TX, FL, IL, WA, NC, Guantanamo Bay, Japan, and Qatar (and many more places aside from military service). No place on Earth had weather as miserable as Qatar... it's not even close. It's hard to imagine working outside all day in such a hellscape. I feel for all the workers who had to endure that.

Yet again, John proved he’s Nostradamus with that prediction about England losing in the quarterfinals.

At what point do the sponsors get some blame for this? I wish John would put some pressure on them. They had to know these things too. There is no FIFA world cup without the sponsors.

The sad thing is FIFA can do what they like because no one holds them accountable. Even John is going to watch anyway. It's like saying I know these shirts are made with child labor in horrible working conditions and I'll publicly denounce it and even do a show exposing it - but i really love the shirts and i'm going to keep buying them. FIFA gets away with what it does because the fans care more about the game than the ethical behavior of it's organizers.

Crazy I used to serve the woman they interviewed at 5:49, Heidi Blake, at the coffee shop in Manhattan I used to work at, presumably while she was researching and writing about Qatar. We talked about her work at Buzzfeed News. Nice to see she’s doing big things

Whenever I get reminded of the world Cup, I think about Josh Witcombe on Taskmaster. "It sounds like we're choosing who's going to hold the next world cup!" when his fellow contestants were offering to pay for 1st place

There are few things in life as satisfying as watching a Brit mocking another Brit's British accent.

Something to add is how the Qatari officials dealt with Iranians. They threatend the anti-iranian regime fans that they would be arrested. They didn’t let them bring their human rights flags to the stadiums.

Brilliantly described, John. Thank you, Sir. 🙌🏼

I think that this was a great tackling of this topic.
John did it in a witty way. Whilst the football at Qatar was some of the best, I did indeed watch many games, including the final - that doesn't mean various migrant rights issues should be brushed under the rug. I hope safety reform will happen

I still remember when it hit 45 degrees celsius here in Sydney back in 2013. It was so oppressively hot that it was difficult to even move let alone conduct physical work....

I was in Dubai at the airport years ago, and was put on a bus for 30 minutes in 50+ degree heat with my toddler. He People were fainting walking up the stairs to the plane. I can’t imagine the horror these people went through.

As a Nepali, hearing and seeing dead Nepalese body entering country now and then, hearing the stories of the family members of the deceased people. I am so glad that John Oliver and HBO decided to shed light on this topic.

As always thank you for the update sir and keep doing what you do best 👍

Thank you for talking about this.... you never disappoint 👍
As much as I love football I completely boycotted this one especially as a Nepalese American my heart goes out to the poor migrant workers that died during this inhumane ordeal. This had to be exposed to the western media audience!!!
Thank you 🙏

OMG! Just watched this and Jon Oliver was SPOT-ON with England's outcome: eliminated in the quarterfinals on penalties! How hilarious!! Give that guy another Emmy!

John... very hard hitting... well done, for what it's worth....too bad all the teams, all the players who actually are the real draw don't just form their own, new organization and screw the current shity heads of the FIFA organization. Is that possible

I was one of many Butlers at a 5-Star Island resort for the Prince of Qatar and his entourage in the very early 2000s.
While I never met the Prince personally, his staff were rude and belittling throughout their stay of one week.
We essentially needed to work 24-7 as we had much to prepare and organise during the daylight hours, and would need to be on-call for anything in the evening.
As their home is so hot during the day, the Prince had a very nocturnal timetable. We even had a beach volleyball court set up for his staff and family with lighting, multiple chefs, and the butlers to attend to their needs as they like to operate when it's cool.
The women where courteous, but so reserved and veiled.under the watchful eyes of the security staff.
After a few days I was sleep deprived and quite over the rudeness of the security detail.
They do not care about anyone but themselves.
They did tip us very handsomely in mid 5-figures each which was ridiculous money. I gave half of it to a few animal care charities, as I felt that it was too much, and that it was a payoff for being treated like a piece of shit for a week.
When they left in a multi-billion dollar yacht, I was so relieved. Slept for 22-hours straight after.
To this day, I still can't talk about anything specific I witnessed or experienced during that time. We all had to sign a binding NDA that lasts for 50-years.
These royals don't mess about.

absolutely brilliant, John Oliver at his very best.

There were only 22 eligible voters when selecting the 2018 and 2022 World Cup. Five of them were later indicted on corruption charges. The voting was subsequently opened to all 203 members for the 2026 World Cup bid.

Fact that England were actually knocked out in a Quarter Final due to a missed penalty is hilarious.

I can't believe more people didn't bring this into the light. I was expecting to see more reports on this as the world cup played out. Sad

Qatar getting the World Cup ended up being the complete opposite of sports washing. 10 years ago we'd never heard of Qatar and now we all hate them🤣

I want an hour of John mocking Beckham.

John's writers nailed this

Although I do agree that FIFA is a garbage organization, literally everyone can be blamed. I don't know how first world countries can willingly send their teams or be proud of them when they know of these abuses. It's truly a weird situation when countries will pull their athletes from the Olympics but not from the World Cup

I am glad they mentioned how too hot weather but construction workers have to keep doing it. I've worked some pretty awful weather and some bad conditions in a first world country.
Not to mention the state of the camps, the camps I go to aren't great and have drama, and it's nothing like this level.
Those workers deserved so much better as people, and so much more than bare minimum (that they didn't get) for the beautiful work they did.

THANK YOU FOR BRINGING UP THAT FIFA CHOOSES AUTHORITARIAN COUNTRIES DURING THE OPPRESSION IVE BEEN TALKING ABOUT THAT FOR YEARS

His impersonation of David Beckham is hilariously spot on.

When that reporter said "Have you been to the labor camps?" that was such a powerful question.

The NFL is horrific, but FIFA just goes the extra mile.

To be fair the 1978 cup was given to Argentina before the coup happened, so it was a democracy when the cup was granted to them. With that being said, the correct thing for FIFA to do would have been to take away the cup from Argentina after the coup happened and grant it to another country. Instead they just continued with business as usual even if they knew of all the human rights violations.

Johnny Oliver this was the best world cup I have ever seen.. I don't think 2026 world cup would be this good cause the benchmark is high and Americans can only be hypocritic

How the heck did this man predict EXACTLY what would happen in the World Cup? Bless his soul

I lived in qatar when I was younger for several years and have witnessed this "slavery" first hand, and it's true. I remember seeing 20-30-40 dudes living in a small dirty trailer outside of construction sites and seeing them working outside in the blistering heat and hearing stories regularly about people dying on the job. It's heartbreaking. I remember feeling so bad for those people it made me cry and decide from a young age I want to change the world and help those people and all people in shitty situations. Treat others the way you'd like to be treated and be the way you'd like others to be.

I swear you guys already discussed this internally but please, please make an episode talking about China's recent "Blank Sheet Movement" :) People should know that happened :)

The German team had that photo with their hands covering their mouths, a form of protest I believe. If the team was so opposed to whatever, why didn't they take a real step, for example by boycotting the world cup? Nah, they just want to look a certain way but when it comes to real action they just shrug. At the least such a boycott would have saved them the humiliation.

Well… John was half right about England, getting knocked out in the quarterfinals. It wasn’t in PKs, but it was a missed PK that did it.

John is spot on about FIFA, they are criminals! lol

We should also discuss all of the US' human rights violations and war crimes (illegal wars, nuclear bombs, supporting Israel in its repeated and sustained UN and Human Rights violations in its illegal occupation of Palestine amongst numerous others), you know since they're part of the hosting nations for 2026.
It's also important to point out that while the tragic deaths of the workers is immensely sad and regrettable and did happen in Qatar, the construction companies that employed those labourers were mostly American and European.
If America and Europe really cared about human rights they should made sure their companies treated the workers properly.
Why didn't these companies and countries take responsibility?
The argument that oh well we just followed the laws is a bit morally weak. The laws are the minimum guidelines to follow in each country but if you really cared about people and morality why didn't you pay better and treat them better?
The west does not have a free pass on this.

Hi John,
I’m a Bangladeshi who moved to Chicago at the age of 14 back in 2014. My connecting flight was in Qatar, and I flew with hundreds of Bangladeshi people who were so excited, filled with hope for a better future for themselves and their families as they were traveling to Qatar for their new job opportunities. My heart hurts to imagine how their hopes were shattered over the years, and to wonder how many of the poor Bangladeshi men and women I traveled with that day have died due to these conditions there.
Thank you for sharing their stories, and for giving migrant workers from Bangladesh and the rest of the underprivileged countries the voice they never had.

You bring a very good point! If Qatar in mid summer is too hot for athletes to play football for 90 minutes with air conditioning on in the stadium. How can it be cold enough for immigrants working in that scorching heat for likely more than 12 hours a day while being under fed and hardly any water available. Hummmmm! That is food for thought.

Y’all keep bluffing about Qatar , but it have made the most historical World Cup of the century, nothing above that everything have been extraordinary and it was one of a kind experience !😍🔥

So I live in Australia, that big desert continent with a bit of grass around the outside. Just over 40C is what caused our sky's to go red with bushfire smoke even over our cities. I cannot even understand not dying from heatstroke working at 50C, even with ACs, mandatory breaks and other first world advantages.

I have this forlorn hope that enough of the respective football associations of western democracies get together and leave FIFA and set up an alternative. There will be enough of the bigger leagues and countries to make this happen. Or at least threaten to do it until the warped and corrupt current FIFA changes. Also, I would look forward to a follow up investigation of Qatar in say one year's time to check on all the claims of 'advances' in working conditions of ongoing migrant workers.

John's prediction about England losing on penalties got torpedoed into orbit, much like Harry Kane's football.

"I won't say that Qatar definitely got the World Cup through bribery, but I won't say that they didn't and I will say that they did." God, I love this.

I'm an arab immigrant who was born and raised in saudi arabia, and on so many levels i agree with john oliver, but at the same time, i feel conflicted. Qatar, and every other gulf country, are countries that didn't physically exist about 60-70 years ago. they are all fairly new as countries go, and all of them (thanks to oil), have had the financial resources to build and become the countries they are now, but of course that come with neglecting every other aspect that makes a country durable such as an economy based on lasting resources and an educated population and a strong labor force. none of the gulf countries depend on their own nationals for labor, and thats something that many people overlook but is so so important.
the human rights violations of immigrant labor workers are so horrid and cruel and disgusting, yet you would be surprised at how these countries will find loopholes and excuses or simply lie outright in order to keep those workers working. it's a system that will take not just years, but decades to overcome because you would first have to start with the arab superiority complex that a lot of gulf arabs suffer from; they need to be educated that in order to build your own country, you have to do it by your hands, not be disgusted at the fact that you have to a (example) construction worker, because "why would MY MIGHTY SELF lift bricks and get my hands dirty??!?!".
its a mentality that needs work and self-awareness to dismantle, and to be honest i dont see it happening anytime soon.
but, as an arab, i feel proud that for once in our lives an arab country is getting press about a (somewhat) positive event happening with all the world's eyes on it, not the usual war and suffering that gets covered, cuz even we are sick of it. we want to see positive stories about us, and i hate that other people are exploited in order for us to reach that...
anyways, congrats to Morocco for making to to the round of 8! made all of us arabs proud!!

It will be interesting to see, as with the Olympics, what happens with all of the stadiums and hotels after the World Cup?!

Waiting for Beckham to run out of things he loves in Qatar aged me drastically.

20:58 and it is exactly what happened, most football fans will remeber the 2022 worldcup final as the single best game of football ever played.

The trolling beckham part was fucking hilarious 🤣😂 And what would people do for power and money ? Play the world cup in Qatar 😏

Im from the Philippines, and the kafala system has been in place and exploiting a lot of my countrymen since the late 80's. And not only in Qatar but most of the countries in the Arabian Peninsula. I admire John for putting a light on this issue, but I dont think any change will be coming soon.

Good for fifa for bringing attention to this. Let's take care of our problems before we judge others and stick our noses in cultures that we don't understand.

The momentum for stoppage of world cup should have gained before FIFA began in Qatar or while the projects were under due. The news, though better late than never, never helps the people in need when they need it. But this segment would help the host to get another Emmy so that's fine I guess. The workers are still stuck and will die anyway.

The 'ahh' from the audience after oliver converted 52°c to Fahrenheit did it for me 😂😂😂

in luxury resorts in maldives some of the workers also work on kafala system with their passports taken away by the agencies. when you go on vacation, ask about work conditions of the gardeners and cleaners

as much as bringing attention to this issue is important, he himself is absolutely part of the problem. literally reporting on how awful this is and calling out the country and fifa for being hypocrites and then going on to watch the games himself! smh

I’m a gulf citizen and I am so glad that the western media is shedding light on the abusive Kafala system. Our governments are only reactionary to global pressures and hopefully the events in Qatar can drive our leaders to abolish this exploitation driven system.

This world cup has been the most exciting and unpredictable one I've seen in years ngl

Okay John, after describing all that horror, enjoy your World Cup!
It’s good to know you’ll gloss over all of that instead of protesting by not not watching.

From CNBC : Qatar received just over 765,000 visitors during the first two weeks of the World Cup, according to an organizers’ report obtained by Reuters, falling short of the country’s expectations for an influx of 1.2 million during the month-long event. (So, not a big success)

At least his prediction about England was 100% right

Do not watch the world cup, watching is supporting. If people stop thinking "Im just one person it wont make a difference" boycotting would make a real difference for so many people.