In 2022 Qatar will host the biggest sporting event in the world – the FIFA World Cup. But right now, far away from the bright lights, star athletes and adoring fans, migrant workers from Africa and Asia toil exceedingly long hours for scant salaries, and live isolated in labor camps which are by law kept outside city limits. By day they sweat to build the World Cup, but at night they compete in the “workers welfare” football tournament, playing in the same stadiums that will one day host the world’s greatest players.

The film follows one team of men from Nepal, India, Ghana, and Kenya whose only common ground is their love for football. Each match offers them a momentary escape from the homesickness and isolation they endure as the lowest class in the world’s richest country. Over the course of the tournament the men alternate between two startling extremes: they play heroes on the football pitch – but are the lowest members of society off the field. The Workers Cup explores universal themes of ambition, aspiration and masculinity, as we see the men wrangle hope, meaning, and opportunity out of dismal circumstances.

The Workers Cup, an Opening Night Selection of Sundance Film Festival; and an official selection of Hot Docs, CPH:DOX, and Human Rights Watch Film Festival, opens in New York and Los Angeles Friday, June 8th.

The film is Adam Sobel’s feature film directorial debut and is produced by Ramzy Haddad and Rosie Garthwaite, with Dennis Paul and Paul R. Miller serving as executive producers. Editing is by Lauren Wellbrock, Anne Jünemann, and Adam Sobel and edit consultants are Anne Fabini and Francois Sculier. Cinematography is by Nazim Aggoune and Joe Saade and original music is by Nathan Halpern.