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World Cup boycott? "No player wanted Qatar - Fifa can't do what they want"

2022-05-04T13:07:34.401Z


World Cup boycott? "No player wanted Qatar - Fifa can't do what they want" Created: 05/04/2022, 14:59 By: Andreas Schmid Strongly in favor of a boycott of the Qatar World Cup: Ruben Jenssen, former second division professional and national player of Norway. © Bildbyran/Imago (montage) Can footballers be asked to boycott the Qatar World Cup? Will there be players who reject the desert tournamen


World Cup boycott?

"No player wanted Qatar - Fifa can't do what they want"

Created: 05/04/2022, 14:59

By: Andreas Schmid

Strongly in favor of a boycott of the Qatar World Cup: Ruben Jenssen, former second division professional and national player of Norway.

© Bildbyran/Imago (montage)

Can footballers be asked to boycott the Qatar World Cup?

Will there be players who reject the desert tournament?

Questions for soccer player Ruben Jenssen.

Tromsö - About 350 kilometers as the crow flies from the Arctic Circle is the Norwegian city of Tromsö, home of the world's northernmost professional football club - Tromsö IL.

The captain of the first division is Ruben Jenssen: 33 years old, 39 caps for Norway, 89 appearances for 1. FC Kaiserslautern - and one of the biggest critics of the upcoming World Cup in Qatar.

Qatar World Cup: The biggest criticism comes from Northern Norway

There is hardly a club in the world that criticizes the controversial desert World Cup as much as Tromso.

The club launched an initiative calling for a boycott of the tournament.

Several first division clubs joined and put pressure on the Norwegian Football Association, which ultimately rejected a boycott in the summer.

The club regularly attracts attention with actions critical of Qatar, for example through information events about the human rights situation in the emirate or a special jersey including a QR code.

If you scan the jersey, you end up on an information page about Qatar.

A banner with the inscription "Boycott Qatar" hangs in the stadium.

In an interview with Ippen.Media, Jenssen also advocates a boycott.

But the former national player also knows about the problems of such demands.

Jenssen: “Other countries might have gone along with a boycott”

Mr. Jensen, Qatar is more than 5,000 kilometers as the crow flies from Tromsö.

But nowhere does criticism of the World Cup seem closer than in Tromso.

Why?

We are just a small part of the football world.

But we cannot look away when a World Cup is being played against all the values ​​of sport, when people have to die in stadiums.

It might be easier for us to criticize that because we're so far from it, but in the end we're just stating the obvious.

So many things are going wrong in Qatar.

Is that why you called for a boycott of the World Cup?

Yes, we tried it.

But we are so small and cannot achieve anything on our own.

We had the fans and other first division teams behind us, but in the end the association decided against a boycott.

Former Norwegian FA chief Terje Svendsen said a boycott was not an appropriate way to bring about change in Qatar.

Do you agree with him?

No, I didn't think that was right.

If we had boycotted it, other countries might have followed suit.

But the truth is that Norway can do little in this area.

That has to come from the big nations like Germany, France or England.

“Human Rights” was emblazoned on the T-shirts of the DFB players in the World Cup qualifying match against Iceland.

A clear message to Qatar or just an empty PR campaign?

The World Cup will not boycott the DFB team.

© Tobias Schwarz/dpa

World Cup boycott?

I hope that the players protest against this championship"

Can you expect national players to boycott the World Cup?

I don't know if we can expect that.

But for me, this World Cup simply has nothing to do with a normal World Cup.

So I hope the players think about the dead migrant workers and all the bad things in Qatar beforehand.

I hope that they will go to Qatar knowing that they will protest against this championship there.

You have won 39 caps.

Assuming Norway had qualified for the World Cup and you were still a national team player, would you boycott the World Cup?

Now it's easy for me to say "yes".

I'm not a national player anymore.

But for many other players it is not easy.

Norway have not qualified for a World Cup since 1998, so the 2022 tournament would have been special.

I understand if young players in particular would go to the World Cup.

We can't expect that from everyone.

39-time national player: Ruben Jenssen in a World Cup qualifier against Germany in a duel with Benedikt Höwedes.

© Pupils/Imago

World Cup boycott?

"There is no player who wanted Qatar"

Do you think there will be players boycotting the World Cup?

I hope so, but don't think so.

Maybe older, more experienced players?

Yes, or idealists who don't want to play in a stadium built by dead people.

Her last international match was against Germany in 2016.

World Cup Qualification for the World Cup in Russia.

There are also human rights violations in Russia.

Where was the Norwegian criticism?

I can only speak for myself.

The point is, over the last few years I've read a lot about Qatar.

I get information from the human rights organization Amnesty and deal with the topic a lot.

It was different with Russia, I didn't have this information, I wasn't aware of the situation on the ground.

That's one of the reasons why we now want to draw attention to Qatar - and to Fifa.

Also on FIFA?

It wasn't the players who chose Qatar.

I don't think there is a player who wanted the World Cup in Qatar.

It is therefore important for us that Fifa and its associations understand that they cannot do what they want.

Football belongs to the players and the fans.

Not for the money.

Interview: Andreas Schmid

Inside Qatar

This text is part of the Inside Qatar series.

Until the football World Cup in winter, we want to give you regular background reports on the (sports) political situation in Qatar - and look at different topics.

If you have any suggestions, suggested topics or criticism, please contact andreas.schmid@redaktion.ippen.media.

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-05-04

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