Matthäus is happy about his role in the controversial Qatar World Cup: "An award"

Created: 05/26/2022, 09:26

By: Alexander Kaindl

The 2022 World Cup is getting closer.

DFB record player Lothar Matthäus will act as the official ambassador.

This sparks discussions.

Munich – The countdown is on, the 2022 World Cup in Qatar will begin in less than six months.

Rarely has there been so much discussion about a football World Cup so long beforehand.

The tournament divides the masses, a number of fans and experts have already announced that they will boycott the final round.

Others, on the other hand, stick to the sport and look forward to exciting games.

The human rights violations in the emirate hardly affect them.

The fact is: Until the World Cup begins in November 2022, there will still be many debates.

It is very likely that Lothar Matthäus will also have to listen to critical questions by then.

Because: The German record national player is now taking on an official role as an ambassador for the organizer.

Lothar Matthäus is happy about his role in the controversial Qatar World Cup: "An award"

The 61-year-old shared photos and a video on his social networks.

In it Matthew says: “I was allowed to live my dream.

As a child you dreamed of becoming a soccer player.

I grew up with the ball, played five World Cups, and now I've always been there live at other World Cups.

It's just fascinating.

And of course it is something very special to act as an ambassador at a World Cup.

It's an award.”

Striking: Matthäus is very general in the clip, never says "Qatar" once, and refrains from praising the host.

However, he does not respond to the many points of criticism that have accompanied the World Cup since the announcement of the organization.

World Cup 2022: Lothar Matthäus becomes official ambassador - criticism of Russia's appearance

For the world champion captain from 1990 (all DFB titles in the overview) the task as an ambassador is not entirely new.

He was already on site at the 2018 World Cup in Russia as one of the so-called FIFA “legends”.

At that time, Matthäus ("I'm half Russian") also appeared in the Kremlin with President Vladimir Putin, which brought him a lot of criticism.

"Politics and sport cannot be separated, but for us athletes, only peaceful and fair competition counts," he explained at the time.

The people in Russia "organized a fantastic World Cup" and convinced with hospitality and warmth, "thank you for that".

He said this to them.

Lothar Matthäus is promoting the 2022 World Cup in Qatar as an ambassador.

© Jan Huebner / Imago

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World Cup 2022: Matthäus promotes the World Cup in Qatar with Cafu and Desailly

In addition to Matthäus, who was already involved in the draw for the World Cup groups, other former stars are also promoting the Desert World Cup from November 21st to December 18th.

These include coach Xavi from FC Barcelona or the two former world champions Cafu (Brazil, 1994 and 2002) and Marcel Desailly (France, 1998).