On the day of the World Cup’s opening, FIFA President Gianni Infantino passionately defended the tournament in the Gulf state on Saturday, calling out the “hypocrisy” of Western critics of Qatar’s human rights record.
Concerns over how Qatar treats migrant workers, women, and the LGBTQ community have dominated the tournament’s build-up, much to the obvious chagrin of the organisers.
Officials from Qatar claim that their nation has been the target of “racist” and “double standards,” and they highlight the regionally lauded advances to working conditions and safety as evidence.
On Saturday, attention was squarely on off-field politics just one day before the tournament’s opening match between hosts Qatar and Ecuador. Football once more took a backseat to off-field politics.
At the tournament’s opening press conference in Doha, Infantino had harsh words for those who had criticised Qatar.
The head of world football added, “This moral lesson-giving — one-sided — is just hypocrisy,”
“I don’t want to give you any lessons of life, but what is going on here is profoundly, profoundly unjust.”
Amnesty International, a human rights organisation, responded angrily to Infantino’s comments, accusing him of “brushing aside legitimate criticism.”
“Gianni Infantino is dismissing the enormous price paid by migrant workers to make his flagship tournament possible – as well as FIFA’s responsibility for it,” Amnesty said.
“Demands for equality, dignity and compensation cannot be treated as some sort of culture war.”
The selling of beer in the Islamic state, which tightly prohibits alcohol consumption, has been another topic that has dominated the lead-up to the competition.
Just 48 hours before kickoff, organisers made a spectacular U-turn on Friday and banned beer sales near stadiums.
On Saturday, Infantino made light of the last-minute alteration.
“I think personally if for three hours a day you cannot drink a beer, you will survive,” he said.
The choice of some players, notably English captain Harry Kane and German captain Manuel Neuer, to wear a “OneLove” armband to support diversity and inclusiveness raised the possibility of another issue elsewhere on Saturday.
The action increases the possibility of disciplinary action from FIFA, who on Saturday disclosed plans to provide teams with their own alternate armbands. For each round, a different social campaign will be featured on the FIFA armbands.
Neuer did reveal his intention to don the “OneLove” armband, which is coloured in a rainbow of hues.
“Other European nations are wearing (the armband) and it is good we are doing it together,” he said.
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