Qatar 2022

[Tucker]

Norway would have been bound and gagged. No way that the national team would ever gone near the pitch with any political merch.

Are you saying the Norwegian fa would have stopped them? Because Qatar didn‘t do anything to stop Lewis Hamilton on the weekend.

 

[Marty]

Are you saying the Norwegian fa would have stopped them? Because Qatar didn‘t do anything to stop Lewis Hamilton on the weekend.

If the Norwegian FA had stopped them the players wouldn't have worn t-shirts raising awareness and made hand gestures in every team photo during the qualifiers this year. It obviously felt a bit hollow but it helped keep the awareness going, if nothing else.

I assume he means FIFA would clamp down. It'll be interesting to see how they handle Denmark's plans for the tournament.

Denmark vow to step up criticism of Qatar after qualifying for World Cup

Denmark’s FA has said it is instituting a series of measures to highlight human rights abuses in Qatar after its national team qualified for the 2022 World Cup

www.theguardian.com

 

[Marty]

Norway boss Ståle Solbakken has been a huge Qatar critic and does not hold back today. Google translated, language won't be perfect:

Solbakken i strupen på Qatar og Peter Schmeichel

Landslagssjef Ståle Solbakken beskriver Qatars fengsling av NRKs journalister som et Kjempeselvmål.

www.tv2.no

Norway is out of the battle for a World Cup ticket to Qatar next year, but that has not slowed Ståle Solbakken's commitment to the debate, which has flared up again after a devastating Amnesty report and the arrest of two NRK workers at work at the World Cup organizer.

- It is tragic for all parties and a huge goal by Qatar. In the last year I have talked a lot with Halvor in NRK, who was now arrested, and I have a lot of respect for him and feel for them. But on top of all the suffering, I hope maybe something good has come out of it, says Solbakken.

- Olof Lundh did an excellent interview with the boss of the Qatar World Cup, and with Peter Schmeichel. It showed a bit of the problem we have in football. I'm probably more impressed with him as a goalkeeper than as a football politician or whatever I should call it. I strongly dissociate myself from what he said there, says the national team manager.

- My hope has always been that the big football nations are starting to put more pressure on this, which we saw hints of when Germany and the Netherlands followed what we started with of various celebrations. I do not want this to be a Norwegian, Swedish or Scandinavian project, but for more and more people to follow suit. There are some signs at the time that this is happening, although there have been more setbacks than progress. There we must lie flat and acknowledge it. But that does not mean we can give up. Football can not bear the full burden, what can business do, what can politicians do? It must not just be NFF against Qatar, says Solbakken.

- Do you have the same position now as before, that dialogue is the way to go?

- It is important to say that in this process here, both I and the NFF management have had extremely great respect for the boycott card. No one can really argue against there being good reasons for a boycott. But what can one do from the inside? Not that we should have any honor or praise, but we have received good feedback from Amnesty nationally and internationally. What I want to brag about, however, are my players, they have been very concerned that this should be done in a nice way, says Solbakken.

- Sounds naive
He highlights an episode from before Norway's most important away match against Montenegro in March, which they won 1-0.

- We were whipped to win that match, and before the last decisive tactics meeting, Martin Ødegaard, Mats Møller Dæhli and Kristoffer Ajer spent 30 minutes with our supporters and openly discussed what their views were. The players have been extremely aware of this all along. In no country has there been so much discussion and debate. It is important that we not only dig into the trench, but are constructive, says Solbakken.


Which means that he stands by his original position, that boycott was not the way to go.

- I land that we must be involved and try to influence everything we can. Then it may sound naive, and it seems that you can not do it to either FIFA or the Qatari authorities. There are many indications that it is very difficult to get through. Then we will see if the snowball can roll even faster, and there may be more and more pressure on them. As I said, my hope has always been that the big nations will sign up, he says.

NFF's general secretary Pål Bjerketvedt is shaken by the events of the last few days.

- It is not more than a few weeks ago that I attended a Nordic meeting where we, via video, met the leader of the World Cup committee in Qatar. One of the questions then was precisely freedom of expression and freedom of the press. He then gave a clear guarantee that freedom of the press and expression applies 100 percent before, during and after the championship. He said it would be entirely possible for international journalists to move freely and make reports around Qatar.

- What do you think about that promise now?

- It is a clear violation of that promise. It is disappointing, and it weakens the trust and credibility of the work the World Cup committee and the authorities are doing now. Also in terms of whether we can trust the answers we get in questions about human rights and the conditions down there.

 

[Dov67]

The shamelessness and the brazen corruption of FIFA awarding it to Qatar actually takes ones breath away.

I've been to UAE in the summer - its barely possible to walk down street, let alone play competitive sport in that heat to say nothing of the humidity - yet we are supposed to believe this took FIFA by surprise, so we now have domestic leagues disrupted by having a f****g World Cup in the middle of the season.

I am not sure what's worse - the fact this will happen in a place that used slave labour to build the stadiums with countless dying, the human rights records, the fact that players who have been kneeling to bring attention to racism for a year and a half will rock up to Doha without complaint or protest, or the fact nobody from FIFA has gone to jail and their Swiss bank accounts are still looking very very healthy.

The beautiful game has become very ugly

 

[wirE]

Are you saying the Norwegian fa would have stopped them? Because Qatar didn‘t do anything to stop Lewis Hamilton on the weekend.

I am saying that if Norway was qualified, there wouldn't be any political demonstrations like they've done throughout the qualifier. The Qatar government would have shut any attempt down and politically downplayed it.

 

[Marty]

Can't find a discussion on the biennial World Cup plans so I'll put this here.

UEFA have published an "independent" review highlighting the negative effects of the plans. Airquotes around "Independent" for a reason. Of course it's a terrible idea but I wouldn't trust anything either UEFA or FIFA published on this matter.

Independent study on biennial World Cup reveals negative economic effects for football | Inside UEFA

Damaging sporting and financial impact for football and fans.

www.uefa.com

 

[Marty]

Qatar World Cup chief bites back after criticism from Norwegian FA

Dispute over the legacy of staging the men’s World Cup in Qatar broke out on the floor of the Fifa Congress on Thursday

www.theguardian.com

Fuck yeah, take that you ****s. Very proud of our openly gay FA president today.

 

[Tucker]

Qatar World Cup chief bites back after criticism from Norwegian FA

Dispute over the legacy of staging the men’s World Cup in Qatar broke out on the floor of the Fifa Congress on Thursday

www.theguardian.com

Fuck yeah, take that you ****s. Very proud of our openly gay FA president today.

It’s pretty clear from the response she got that there are many in fifa who are more than happy to treat the whole World Cup as a sports washing exercise for Qatar.

Still no guarantee on lgbtq+ safety at the tournament says it all.

 

[theShiznit]

With all the corruption that was uncovered towards Qatar basically bribing their way to hosting the world cup and yet still getting to keep it, it was pretty clear that there was a lot more (uncovered bribery) money that individuals didn't want to have to hand back.

If I was an LGBTQ+ individual I would not be going anywhere near this tournament.

Be interesting to see how they police the thugs this tournament invariably gets too...

 

[LSUY]

Be interesting to see how they police the thugs this tournament invariably gets too...

The thugs will be in for a surprise as over 3,000 Turkish riot police will be in Qatar for the tournament. Those guys will give football hooligans a first-hand experience of the difference between excessive force and police brutality.

 

[Hakkz]

Qatari trash.

 

[theShiznit]

The thugs will be in for a surprise as over 3,000 Turkish riot police will be in Qatar for the tournament. Those guys will give football hooligans a first-hand experience of the difference between excessive force and police brutality.

As long as they can differentiate between peaceful fans and those intent on trouble...

 

[UncleBuck]

The thugs will be in for a surprise as over 3,000 Turkish riot police will be in Qatar for the tournament. Those guys will give football hooligans a first-hand experience of the difference between excessive force and police brutality.

Have they gone and bought them as well? Absolutely no shame whatsoever….

 

[whitechina]

Just seen that they're opening up a beach for camping!
It raises the point for me- where are normal fans going to stay? Accommodation there is expensive and in that report it says it's not going to be built until later in the summer! Will everything be ready? This just looks worse and worse with every report coming out.

 

[kaz Hirai]

Portugal at 16/1 could be a juicy dark horse of a bet for any who are inclined

 

[Gassin's finest]

Just seen that they're opening up a beach for camping!
It raises the point for me- where are normal fans going to stay? Accommodation there is expensive and in that report it says it's not going to be built until later in the summer! Will everything be ready? This just looks worse and worse with every report coming out.

"Legacy" fans not catered for not invited.

TBH, everyone should be boycotting this WC. Someone should run an invitational for an independent tournament this summer, just to stick it to them.

 

[whitechina]

"Legacy" fans not catered for not invited.

TBH, everyone should be boycotting this WC. Someone should run an invitational for an independent tournament this summer, just to stick it to them.

The whole history of the World Cup has been tarnished with this year's thing.
As a young kid Argentina 78 (massive amounts of paper everywhere ) and Spain 82 (England playing in a place called Bilbao- I had read The Hobbit and thought it was a joke at first!) are still in my mind.
Over the years less so interested and for this one I have no interest what-so-ever. Money has killed it for me

 

[Gassin's finest]

The whole history of the World Cup has been tarnished with this year's thing.
As a young kid Argentina 78 (massive amounts of paper everywhere ) and Spain 82 (England playing in a place called Bilbao- I had read The Hobbit and thought it was a joke at first!) are still in my mind.
Over the years less so interested and for this one I have no interest what-so-ever. Money has killed it for me

Pretty much the last few years has taken the professional game beyond the point that I can relate to it anymore.

This WC, the ESL, Sportswashed clubs, toxicity in the fanbases... its all money money money money. More so with every season.

I just flat out don't care about it anymore.

 

[whitechina]

Pretty much the last few years has taken the professional game beyond the point that I can relate to it anymore.

This WC, the ESL, Sportswashed clubs, toxicity in the fanbases... its all money money money money. More so with every season.

I just flat out don't care about it anymore.

It's a shame- I said last year that should I return to the UK soon- I'll be going to a local club (the football might not be as great but well it'll make me feel better)

 

[Gassin's finest]

It's a shame- I said last year that should I return to the UK soon- I'll be going to a local club (the football might not be as great but well it'll make me feel better)

Near me I've got Wimbledon, Sutton Utd and non league outfit Raynes Park Vale, and I play 7 a side on Sundays. Each one is a far more enjoyable experience.