It was in football that he achieved one of Qatar’s biggest and most controversial victories.
The country won the right to host the 2022 World Cup in 2010 despite allegations of corruption later being uncovered.
30,000 foreign workers were hired just to build the stadium. In 2021, around 6,500 migrant workers from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka were reported to have died since the country’s bid to host the World Cup.
The Qatari government said not all of the recorded deaths were people working on World Cup-related projects and that many had lived there for long periods of time.
There was also criticism of Qatar’s human rights record and its law banning same-sex relationships.
Qatar was a British protectorate until 1971, and the Al Thani family has been its monarch since 1851.
