Soccer World Cup in Qatar: Hansi Flick sharply criticizes conditions in the host country

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Hansi Flick (on July 7th)

Photo: IMAGO/Kirchner/Marco Steinbrenner / IMAGO/Kirchner-Media

The ball will be rolling in two months, and the World Cup will start in Qatar (November 20th to December 18th).

In the run-up, there had already been heated debates about the award and the situation in the country.

The German Football Association (DFB) practiced a balancing act between anticipation and criticism.

Now national coach Hansi Flick has made a clear statement.

The question of the correctness of the World Cup surcharge for Qatar "should have been answered much earlier - with a no!" said Flick in an interview with the "Süddeutsche Zeitung".

The 57-year-old left no doubts about his support for criticism of the conditions in the country of the World Cup hosts and the decision of the world association Fifa to host the tournament in the desert state: »That in Qatar when it comes to human rights, when it comes to sustainability, a lot is not true, that's obvious.«

In the years of debate about the World Cup finals in golf at the DFB, no member has positioned himself as clearly as Flick has towards the hosts.

Managing director Oliver Bierhoff recently packaged his skepticism in the question »How was Fifa able to award the World Cup to this country?«.

Before his trip to Qatar with Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, the head of the association, Bernd Neuendorf, described the award procedure as "questionable".

Most recently, he had announced that during his trip he would again urge the improvement of the human rights situation in the host country.

Flick had also only approached the topic at the beginning of the week and only regretted in August "that this tournament will not be a World Cup for the fans".

Flick said he had many acquaintances a month ago to justify his position, "who would like to fly to Qatar, but choose not to for a variety of reasons".

They cannot afford the prices, the situation for homosexuals, for example, is unacceptable, and there are human rights violations because minorities are excluded.

Responsibility for fatalities on construction sites

At a congress on "Sport and Human Rights" on the campus of the German Football Association in Frankfurt am Main at the weekend, the role of the DFB and FIFA was also questioned.

Specifically, the International Building and Wood Workers' Union (BWI) has called on Fifa to set up a $440 million compensation fund for the families of workers who died or were injured on World Cup construction sites.

At the event, Managing Director Christian Mihr of Reporters Without Borders described Qatar as an "absolute, autocratic monarchy" that would like to "disguise" the critical situation with regard to freedom of the press and freedom of expression through its investments in sports and the media.

The country, ranked 119th (out of 186) for press freedom, bans independent journalism and invests in internet surveillance.

jok/sid