A long-awaited Fifa report into the legacy of the Qatar World Cup has been published, but only after its key recommendation was rejected by the organisation.

Fifa’s subcommittee on human rights and social responsibility has found that the game’s world body “has a responsibility” to provide financial remedy to workers who suffered loss as a result of employment at the 2022 World Cup. Its report argues that Fifa should use its Qatar legacy fund for those workers. Two days before the report was published, however, Fifa announced that the $50m fund would be used on international development projects instead.

The report contains an independent assessment by the human rights consultancy Human Level. It acknowledges a number of measures Fifa undertook with Qatari authorities to improve conditions, but “a number of severe human rights impacts did ultimately occur in Qatar from 2010 through 2022 for a number of workers connected to the 2022 World Cup” and that “a credible argument can be made that Fifa contributed to some of the impacts”.