After four long years, football fans can enjoy the return of the 2022 World Cup! The tournament will be held in Qatar from November 20 to December 18 and will see some of the world’s biggest football stars on the field. However, not everyone is pleased with the World Cup’s host country. Many human rights groups have criticised Qatar for its poor labour treatments after The Guardian reported back in 2021 that over 6,500 migrant workers from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka died during the preparation. It’s reported that seven new stadiums along with new airport, roads and public transports were built over the course of 10 years since Qatar won the bid in December 2010. Meet Dennis Rodman’s record-breaking football star daughter, Trinity Rodman Qatar is also heavily condemned for its stance on women and LGBTQ+ community, per Bustle. Things got even worse after Qatar Fifa World Cup Ambassador Khalid Salman told the German broadcaster ZDF recently that homosexuality is “damage in the mind”, as reported by CNN. He added that being gay is haram, or forbidden according to the Islamic law, and that children may learn “something that is not good”. As the event is embroiled in controversies, many celebrities and athletes have spoken out against the 2022 World Cup. Here’s the complete list so far … 1. Melanie C The Spice Girl has spoken out against the World Cup 2022 being held in Qatar. “It’s greed. They can try and spin it that they’re there to make change, but it’s bullshit – it’s about money,” she told UK’s Attitude. The 48-year-old singer even touched on her pal David Beckham’s decision on being the UK’s poster boy for the tournament with his seven-figure deal. She told the Not My Bagg podcast: “It’s difficult. David is a friend, and everybody has to make their own choices.” 2. Dua Lipa On her Instagram Story recently, the Grammy winner recently cleared up speculation about whether she would be performing at the World Cup’s opening ceremony, per BBC. “I will not be performing and nor have I ever been involved in any negotiations to perform. I will be cheering England on from afar. I look forward to visiting Qatar when it has fulfilled all the human-rights pledges it made when it won the right to host the World Cup,” she wrote. The ceremony will see Sean Paul, Clean Bandit and BTS’ Jungkook performing instead, per Time. 3. Rod Stewart Award-winning musician Rod Stewart revealed that he turned down a large pay cheque to perform in Qatar last year and denounced the 2022 World Cup. “I was actually offered a lot of money, over US$1 million, to play there 15 months ago. I turned it down. It’s not right to go. And the Iranians should be out too for supplying arms,” he told The Sunday Times recently. Back in 2016, the 77-year-old star said that he doesn’t mind if his youngest son, Aiden, turns out to be gay, per UK’s Attitude: “He’s always dressing up like Mary Poppins. Hopefully he’ll grow out of it.” He added, “If he turns out to be a homosexual, that’s OK with me. As long as he’s happy.” Meet Queen Elizabeth’s Russian cousin, ‘potty mouth’ Princess Olga Romanoff 4. Prince William According to Time , the Prince of Wales would not attend the tournament. Although there’s no official statement yet, Britain’s ITV News said that the prince has a busy winter schedule. However, the TV station suggested that we should not completely rule out Prince William’s attendance if England were to make it to the later stages. But many have seen the news as a reason for the British monarchy to opt out of the controversial event. 5. Joe Lycett The British comedian – who identifies as a pansexual, according to British media – went viral after he publicly challenged Beckham to drop his ambassadorship for the 2022 Qatar World Cup. Lycett said in the video, uploaded on Twitter in November, that he will donate US$11,900 of his own money to charity if Beckham agrees to back away. He also said that he considered Beckham to be a gay icon: “You were the first premiership footballer to do shoots with gay magazines like Attitude, to speak openly about your gay fans. But now it’s 2022 and you’ve signed a reported US$12 million deal with Qatar to be their ambassador during the Fifa World Cup,” he said in the video. 6. Harry Kane England’s captain Harry Kane said that he will wear an anti-discrimination armband One Love at the Qatar World Cup, reported Pink News. “As captains, we may all be competing against each other on the pitch, but we stand together against all forms of discrimination,” Kane said. Other football captains from Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Wales will also be donning the armband as a sign of solidarity. The One Love campaign aims to use football games to promote inclusion and stand against any discrimination – it was originally initiated by the Dutch team, per England Football . 7. Josh Cavallo The out-and-proud footballer who came out in 2021 voiced out his concerns about Qatar. He told The Guardian that he would be scared to play at the tournament as the country’s legal penalties for homosexuality include prison and even execution. Meet Jake Daniels, the first English pro footballer to come out as gay in 32 years “I read something along the lines of that [they] give the death penalty for gay people in Qatar, so it’s something I’m very scared [of] and wouldn’t really want to go to Qatar for that,” he said in the interview. 8. Beth Mead The England forward has also expressed that she will not support the Qatar World Cup. “It’s not something I will be backing or promoting. It’s disappointing in the sense that there’s no respect on a lot of levels, even though it’s a game of football,” she told The Guardian recently . “Although I’m cheering for the boys who are going to play football there, from the minute it was announced I thought it wasn’t the best idea,” she added. Mead is in a relationship with her Arsenal teammate Vivianne Miedema. 9. Gareth Southgate Just like Harry Kane, the England football manager Gareth Southgate also touched upon the human right abuses in Qatar and will speak out on the issue with his team. “We have always spoken about issues we think should be talked about, particularly the ones we feel we can affect,” he said in a press conference in November, per NME. He also highlighted the LGBTQ+ players and fans: “Regarding the LGBT community, we stand for inclusivity and we are very, very strong on that. We think that is important in terms of all our supporters.” Want more stories like this? Follow STYLE on Facebook , Instagram , YouTube and Twitter .