[imagesource: YouTube / Last Week Tonight]

“Stick to football.”

“Keep politics out of sport.”

“Respect the laws of the country you’re visiting.”

As the Qatar World Cup gathers steam this week, with up to four matches a day, those are the general retorts that follow criticism of the host country.

You don’t need to have followed the lead-up to the tournament closely to know about the human rights concerns that have caused this to become the most controversial World Cup in modern history.

FIFA Uncovered on Netflix takes its time and digs deep into those controversies. If you’re after a more concise and cutting explanation, John Oliver is here to help, reports HuffPost:

Oliver gave a brief history of how Qatar won the event from FIFA, soccer’s governing organization, which he called “a cartel-like group of scumbags and assorted criminals who occasionally put on soccer matches.”

…Qatar had no facilities to host such an event, and no workers who could build them in a short time, so they brought in foreign workers, who by most accounts are being horribly mistreated. Thousands reportedly died…

The tournament, he said, was “built on human suffering,” and Qatar officials have not only not been held accountable, they’ve tried to bully journalists who’ve asked about it.

David Beckham also comes under fire for promoting Qatar after a reported payment of £150 million.

Again, these are issues that have been extensively covered in the lead-up to and the coverage of the World Cup.

The nerdy Brit does have a way of making even the most distressing topics somewhat enjoyable, though:

[source:huffpost]