FIFA Pleads With WC Nations to ‘Focus on Football’ in Qatar

Date: 04 November 2022 - 21:31

News ID: ۱۰۸۵۷۵

LONDON (REUTERS) - FIFA have written to World Cup teams urging them to focus on the soccer in Qatar and not let the sport be dragged into ideological or political “battles”, British media reported on Thursday.
The letter from FIFA president Gianni Infantino and the governing body’s secretary general Fatma Samoura follows a number of protests made by World Cup teams, on issues ranging from LGBTIQ rights to concerns over the treatment of migrant workers.
“Please, let’s now focus on the football!” Sky News quoted Infantino and Samoura as saying in the letter to the 32 nations contesting the World Cup.
“We know football does not live in a vacuum and we are equally aware that there are many challenges and difficulties of a political nature all around the world.
“But please do not allow football to be dragged into every ideological or political battle that exists.”
Australia’s soccer team last week spoke out against Qatar’s record on human rights.
Denmark’s players will travel to the World Cup without their families as a protest against the country’s human rights record, the Danish FA (DBU) told local media last month.
World Cup organizers have said that everyone, no matter their sexual orientation or background, is welcome, while also warning against public displays of affection.
Qatar has acknowledged there are “gaps” in its labor system but the World Cup has allowed the country to make progress on worker rights.