FIFA World Cup: French captain Lloris says players under pressure to criticise Qatar

The captain of the French national football team has said that players have been under “too much pressure” to criticise Qatar and protest at the imminent FIFA World Cup 2022 tournament which kicks off in the Gulf State on Sunday, 20 November.

“Honestly, I agree [with FIFA’s sentiment],” said Hugo Lloris. “There’s too much pressure on the players. We are at the bottom of the chain.”

He pointed out that if pressure on Qatar had to be applied, it should have been ten years ago. “Now it’s too late. You have to understand that for players this opportunity happens every four years and you want every chance to succeed.” As such, he added, “The focus has to be on the field. The rest is for politicians. We are athletes.”

Lloris also explained the additional pressure that France is facing in Qatar: “To be the defending champions is not an easy task. If you look at the last three previous champions they struggled a lot and did not go through the group stage [in the following tournament].”

Earlier this month, football’s world governing body FIFA urged nations to stick to football and not focus on the politics surrounding the host nation.

Qatar has come under intense pressure over alleged mistreatment of migrant workers who were used to build the stadiums and other infrastructure for the tournament. It has also insisted that visiting fans from around the world should respect its traditions while in the Gulf State.

Many Arab and Muslim countries, as well as the government in Doha, believe that attacks on Qatar are not related to its human rights record or alleged mistreatment of workers as this also happens in many other countries, including Europe. It is, they believe, more to do with racism and hate speech against an Arab, Muslim country.

Last week, Minister of Labour Ali Al-Marri said that Qatar will not tolerate hate speech against the country or its team.

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