Almost two-thirds of Germans hope that the national soccer team will send a signal against the abuses in the host country on the field during the World Cup in Qatar. This is the result of a representative survey by the opinion research institute YouGov on behalf of the German Press Agency.
40 percent of those questioned stated that they “entirely” supported such an action, 17 percent answered: “I tend to support it”. Twelve percent each reject “rather” and “completely”. 19 percent did not provide any information.
The World Cup organizer has been criticized for years, among other things, because of the human rights situation in the country and the poor living conditions for foreign workers. Homosexuality is forbidden by law in Qatar. With regard to employee rights, the government of the emirate refers to reforms and largely rejects the criticism.
Flick: “Keep your eyes and ears open”
National coach Hansi Flick announced on Thursday that the DFB selection would “not duck” when it came to questions about the human rights situation. It is “enormously important that we as the DFB concentrate on the sporting side on the one hand, but also have to clearly address the human rights situation in Qatar. We have to keep our eyes and ears open. We don’t want to duck away and be very clear draw attention to the grievances.”
Most recently, the former Qatar international Khalid Salman, in his role as one of the World Cup ambassadors, described being gay as “mental damage” in the ZDF documentary “Geheimsache Qatar”. The 60-year-old later said his statements had been “taken out of context”. Flick said everyone “also saw things, what happened on the Qatar side, which leaves us speechless, stunned”. On site, the DFB has “another lever. That’s what the DFB stands for, that’s what the team stands for.”
Head of the delegation – and primarily responsible for socio-political issues – will be DFB President Bernd Neuendorf in Qatar. The internationals had been informed about the situation in Qatar by human rights organizations in the past few months and had repeatedly expressed criticism. Before the start of the World Cup qualifier in March 2021 against Iceland, the DFB pros demonstrated for the first time on the pitch with a t-shirt campaign for human rights.
