One day before the start of the tournament, Gianni Infantino defended himself against criticism of the World Cup being awarded to Qatar.
At a press conference in Al-Rajjan on Saturday, the FIFA President complained about the supposed moral hubris that critics of the World Cup award to Qatar would display. "I think what we Europeans have done worldwide for the past 3,000 years, we should apologize for the next 3,000 years before we start giving moral advice to others," Infantino said. Having to experience this "double standard" is "sad".
"How many of these Western companies that are receiving billions from Qatar here - how many of them have spoken out about migrant workers' rights? None of them," continued the 52-year-old Swiss. "Who takes care of the workers? Who? FIFA does it, football does it, the World Cup does it - and to be fair, Qatar does it too."
In addition, Infantino pointed to the positive development that Qatar has already made in terms of human rights. He doesn't understand why this progress isn't recognized: "This way of wanting to teach lessons one-sidedly is hypocritical."
When asked about the supposedly bought fans, which various media had reported on in the past few days, Infantino replied: "With regard to the bought fans: if someone looks like an Indian, shouldn't he cheer for England or Spain? That's racism !" (Quoted via Bild newspaper)
The FIFA President opened the press conference with the following words: "Today I feel very strong feelings, today I feel Qatari, today I feel Arab, today I feel African. Today I feel homosexual. Today I feel handicapped, today I feel like a migrant worker."
He chose these words, Infantino continued, because he could understand the situation of migrant workers in Qatar very well. His parents came to Switzerland as guest workers and he still knows exactly how he and his family were treated. Today, Switzerland is one of the most inclusive countries in the world. Infantino predicted the same development for Qatar.
This article was originally published on 90min.de as "Hypocritical, double standards, racism": Infantino's all-out attack on the Qatar critics.
