Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has said players and managers are not political, amid constant scrutiny over the 2022 World Cup. Qatar’s reception has been criticized for its stance on same-sex relationships, its human rights record and its treatment of migrant workers. Klopp also says the decision to play the finals there “just wasn’t right”. “Don’t constantly put Gareth Southgate in a situation where he has to talk about everything,” Klopp said. “He is not a politician, just as I am not. He has an opinion but he is not a politician.” FIFA has sent a letter to all 32 teams competing in the World Cup telling them to “now focus on football”. Klopp added that he now feels it is time “to let them play the games – the players and the managers”. “[Southgate] he is the manager of England, let him do it and if you want to write something else about it, do it,” said Klopp. “But [something] on your own and you don’t ask us [and writing] “Klopp said” and “Southgate said”, and all this as if they changed something.
“The journalists should have done more”
In 2010, Qatar won the rights to the World Cup after winning a ballot with FIFA’s 22 executive members. Qatar was accused of paying FIFA officials 3 million pounds ($3.7 million) in bribes to secure their support, but was cleared after a two-year investigation. At the time, then-FIFA president Sepp Blatter supported Qatar’s bid, but has since said the organization may have made the wrong decision. For the first time, the World Cup was not held in the summer due to the temperatures in Qatar at the time, and six of the eight stadiums used had to be built. Asked if football people made the decision for Qatar to win the bid, Klopp replied: “Football people? No, it was football politicians. You mean the Brazilian guy [Ricardo Teixeira]? “The reporters should have done more. Do you really think we did enough at the start? Now you’re doing a story when it happened, coming out of the corner and putting the players under pressure with questions. “If Harry Kane says he will wear [the armband], the other kids say “please don’t make political statements”. It’s not okay. “This was organized by other people and I’m not saying you let it happen, but we all let it happen. Everything was on the table. “There are great people there too and it’s not that everything is bad, but how it happened wasn’t right in the first place,” Klopp added. “It was already clear what was going to happen and now it’s ‘oh yeah, it’s hard to build a stadium in Qatar because we have to do it in their summer and it’s 50 degrees.’ This is not good for people to be out doing hard, physical work. “There were plenty of opportunities afterwards to say, ‘by the way, the process isn’t right’. Lots of people got money for the wrong reasons. Nothing changed. How can this happen?” ‘Whatever we do, it won’t be enough’ – Jordan Henderson talks to 5 Live Breakfast about Qatar World Cup concerns England’s Harry Kane and nine other European team captains will wear ‘One Love’ armbands, to promote diversity and inclusion and as an anti-discrimination message. Same-sex relationships and the promotion of same-sex relationships are criminalized in Qatar. The England team have now been asked to consider making a “demonstration or gesture of solidarity with Iranian women fighting for their civil liberties” when the two countries meet in their opening World Cup match on November 21. Klopp added that “it’s a tournament and the players go there and do their best for their countries.” “I watch it from a footballing point of view and I don’t like that players sometimes get into a situation where they have to send a message,” he said. “You are all journalists, you should have texted and not written the most critical article about it. “It’s not all right for the players, I really have to say. But it is here and we all let it happen. “I will watch matches, of course, but it is different from other World Cups.” A spokesman for Qatar’s Supreme Commission for Tradition & Heritage (SC) said: “We commend footballers who use their platforms to raise awareness of important issues. “We are committed to ensuring that this World Cup has a transformative impact on improving lives, especially for those involved in the construction of the playing and non-playing venues for which we are responsible.” Qatar World Cup officials also stressed that “everyone is welcome” to visit the country to watch football and said no one would be discriminated against.
“Letter highlights systemic failures”
But LGBT+ campaigners in England and Wales criticized FIFA for its letter to the 32 competing nations in Qatar. Three Lions Pride, Rainbow Wall and Pride in Football issued a joint statement condemning world football’s governing body. “This letter highlights systemic failures to adequately address human rights issues in global football,” they said. “The global football community has been asking FIFA for answers around these issues for almost 12 years.” They added that FIFA had “failed to provide the real assurances about fan safety that are needed by those considering traveling to the World Cup”. “Let’s be clear, talking about human rights is neither ideological nor political. It’s just asking for decency and for people to be able to watch their groups without fear of abuse,” they said. “This appears to be an attempt to prevent competing nations from raising the voices of affected communities, such as migrant workers and the LGBT+ community, who have consistently stated that this is not a World Cup for everyone.”
