The Fifa President accuses the critics from the West at the media conference of double standards the day before kick-off.
Calls criticism of Qatar hypocritical: Fifa President Gianni Infantino.
(dpa) Gianni Infantino’s remarkable justification on theatrical stage lasted almost exactly an hour. The day before the opening game, the Fifa President denounced a “double standard” from the West against the World Cup host Qatar, defended the emirate against practically all allegations, including independent institutions, praised progress – and ended his speech begging. “Let’s please, please, celebrate this World Cup and hope to make people around the world smile,” Infantino said. The bottom line is that football is there for that.
Again and again the Swiss changed the pace of his speech, built in small pauses, once he picked up the football placed in front of him on the podium in the large hall of the Qatar National Convention Center. “It’s the only weapon we have,” he said.
His messages on the difficult issues of human rights, migrant workers, freedom for the LGBTQI+ community have long felt cobbled together. “The world is divided enough, a World Cup is a World Cup, it’s not a war,” said Infantino. “We have to take a critical look at ourselves in the mirror.”
For Infantino, criticism of Qatar is “hypocritical”
Qatar had been heavily criticized in recent years, especially from western nations. For Infantino, who related his own story as the son of a guest worker family in Switzerland, in a “hypocritical” way. “I think what we Europeans have done worldwide over the past 3,000 years, we should apologize for the next 3,000 years before we start distributing moral advice to others,” said the 52-year-old. It is “sad” to have to experience this “double standard”.
As never before in the past few months, the Fifa President sided with the government of the country in which he has had a secondary residence for a long time. “Who takes care of the workers? Who? Fifa does it, football does it, the World Cup does it – and, to be fair, Qatar does it too,” he said, referring, among other things, to a planned office of the International Labor Organization (ILO) in Doha.
“How many of these Western companies that are receiving billions from Qatar here – how many of them have spoken out about migrant workers’ rights? None of them,’ said Infantino, without giving examples. The compensation fund for workers and their families from South Asia, also demanded by the German Football Association, already exists, albeit in a different form, initiated by Qatar. He was “convinced” that the World Cup could help people “open their eyes”.
Homosexuality is forbidden in Qatar, but that has been the case in European countries for a long time, argued Infantino, referring to an ongoing development process. He had received clear assurances that “everyone, everyone” was welcome to the World Cup in Qatar. One of the local World Cup ambassadors recently described being gay as “mental damage” in a ZDF documentary. That’s not “the attitude of the country,” said Infantino, without specifically addressing the statement.
No clear announcement regarding rainbow armbands
The FIFA President briefly reported personal hostilities, and his spokesman, former British Sky journalist Bryan Swanson, jumped to his side at the end of the press conference. “There was also a lot of criticism from the LGBTQ community. I’m sitting here as a gay man and we received this guarantee,” said the 42-year-old. Fifa takes care of everyone. “I have some homosexual colleagues.”
Infantino started his press conference with: «Today I feel very strong feelings, today I feel like a Qatari, today I feel like an Arab, today I feel like an African. Today I feel homosexual. Today I feel disabled, today I feel like a migrant worker.» Infantino apologized for not having stated that he felt like a woman and said: “I have four daughters.”
Infantino avoided a clear statement as to whether the captains of the World Cup participants could wear an armband in the rainbow colors symbolic of the LGBTQ community. FIFA is something “universal and we have to find topics that everyone can identify with,” he said. LGBT is the English abbreviation for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender. The variants LGBTQ, LGBTQI or LGBTQIA+ are also often used. Each letter represents one’s gender identity or sexual orientation.