In Norway, more and more voices are calling for the national team around BVB player Erling Haaland to boycott the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
FIFA reacts disgruntled.
Oslo - Several Norwegian first division clubs are calling on BVB star Erling Haaland and his national team to boycott the World Cup in Qatar.
For several years, the world association FIFA and Qatar have been criticized for the questionable World Cup awards and the unworthy conditions for workers from abroad, wrote the elite series association Tromsö IL in a statement on Friday.
Criticism and the attempted dialogue had led to nothing, a recently published report by the Guardian on thousands of workers who had died was now completely devastating.
"We feel that it is time to go a step further: boycott," wrote the club.
Money is a part of football and will always be part of the sport.
Nevertheless, this should not mean that corruption, life-threatening working conditions and looking the other way would be accepted.
Tromsö IL therefore calls on the Norwegian football association NFF to boycott the World Cup.
"We believe we should say no to a trip to Qatar if we qualify."
Norway: Boycott of the World Cup in Qatar is discussed
Tromsö's league rivals Strömsgodset and Viking now support the claim, as reported by the NTB news agency.
Other clubs are also considering putting themselves behind it.
According to research by the British
Guardian,
more than 6,500 workers from five Asian countries have died
in Qatar in the past ten years
.
These are workers from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, the newspaper reported on Tuesday.
On request, Qatar's government press office said that the emirate was home to more than 1.4 million people from these countries.
They included students, the elderly, and workers in various industries.
Millions more have lived in Qatar in the past ten years and have returned home.
A "small percentage" is different from these millions of people, it continues.
The death rate is in a range that can be expected for this size and this demographic composition.
The 2022 World Cup was awarded to the wealthy emirate in 2010.
The country is repeatedly criticized internationally for the exploitation of guest workers.
Qatar's government, on the other hand, declares that reforms in recent years have significantly improved the situation of workers.
Human rights activists also admit progress, but warn that the reforms are inadequately implemented.
FIFA rejects boycott of 2022 World Cup in Qatar: "Definitely not the right measure"
FIFA President Gianni Infantino has no sympathy for boycott considerations ahead of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
He believes that a boycott is "definitely not the right measure" to achieve something, said the head of the world football association on Friday during a press conference.
Most recently, several Norwegian first division clubs had asked their national team to stay away from the finals in Qatar (November 21 to December 18).
"It is always, always was and always will be the only way to enter into dialogue and get involved in order to bring about change," said Infantino (50).
With regard to the human rights situation, Qatar had made great strides in recent years.
He is looking forward to a “fantastic” World Cup, said Infantino.
"Maybe football has contributed a small part to positive changes."
The British
Guardian
recently reported that more than 6,500 workers from five Asian countries had died in Qatar in the past ten years.
Qatar's government announced that the death rate among millions of foreign workers was in an expected range.
Ambassador to Germany, Abdullah bin Mohammed Al Thani, said the
Guardian's
report was misleading the public.
Infantino urged caution when talking about numbers.
It's about human life.
On construction sites directly related to the World Cup, there have been three deaths since 2014 and 34 more that could not be directly explained with the work.
