On the day of the World Cup starting, FIFA President Gianni Infantino responded to criticism of Qatar’s human rights record on Saturday by denouncing the “hypocrisy” of Western opponents.
Infantino also endorsed the LGBTQ community and migrant workers during his opening news conference for the tournament in Doha.
The Swiss said, “This one-sided moral lesson-giving is plain hypocrisy.”
I don’t want to teach you any life lessons, but what is happening here is utterly, utterly unfair.
“We should apologize for the next 3,000 years for what we Europeans have been doing for the previous 3,000 years before we start teaching them moral lessons,” he continued.
Negative media coverage concentrating on Qatar’s alleged maltreatment of migrant workers, women, and the LGBTQ community has dominated the build-up to the event in the Gulf state.
Infantino stated that he was in favor of those groups.
He remarked, “Today I feel African, today I feel queer, today I feel crippled, today I feel like a migrant worker, today I feel Qatari, today I feel Arab.”
The majority of the allegations against Qatar, according to Qatari authorities, are exaggerated or inaccurate, and the nation has been the victim of “racist” and “double standards.”
They cite the groundbreaking improvements in the Gulf area that have been made to working conditions and safety.
On Sunday, the World Cup begins when host nation Qatar plays Ecuador in the first match.
