• Companies ‘are responsible for their workers’ • Hundreds have died on building projects

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Sepp Blatter said that the welfare of migrant workers involved in building facilities for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar was the responsibility of the companies who hired them, not Fifa.

Speaking during a visit to Sri Lanka, the Fifa president said the workers were employed by companies from Germany, France and other European countries and “they are responsible for their workers and not Fifa”.

Blatter also said the workers were enjoying “better conditions” due to the World Cup.

Qatar has come under increasing scrutiny over its labour practices since Fifa awarded it the right to host the tournament. The wealthy OPEC nation relies heavily on migrant workers drawn mainly from South Asia to build its roads, skyscrapers and stadiums.

A series of stories in the Guardian showed that migrant workers from Nepal, India, Sri Lanka and elsewhere were dying in their hundreds.

Many more were injured in workplace accidents, some left trapped with no passport or insurance, and huge numbers toiled in extreme heat for low wages and lived in inhumane conditions.

The government confirmed in a report that 964 workers from Nepal, India and Bangladesh had died while living and working in the Gulf state in 2012 and 2013.