France captain Hugo Lloris has distanced himself from a planned anti-discrimination campaign at the World Cup, as a number of teams wrestle with how best to respond to Qatar’s human rights problems.
FIFA this month asked nations to avoid taking a political stance over hosts Qatar, who have faced scrutiny for the mistreatment and deaths of migrant workers, ultraconservative social laws, and repression of the LGBTQIA+ community.
And Lloris says the outcry is simply too late.
“Honestly, I agree [with FIFA’s sentiment],” Lloris said. “There’s too much pressure on the players. We are at the bottom of the chain.
“If you have to apply pressure, first of all it had to be 10 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. The focus has to be on the field. The rest is for politicians. We are athletes.”
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Lloris hinted that he will not wear a rainbow-coloured armband (with a rainbow heart) – the ‘OneLove’ campaign started in the Netherlands in September. Eight of Europe’s 13 teams have signed up to the campaign and were set to wear the unique armbands in protest of Qatar’s repressive laws around same-sex relationships.
FIFA mandates teams must use armbands provided by the governing body, and Lloris inferred he will follow the regulations.
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“Before we start anything, we need the agreement of FIFA, the agreement of the [French] federation,” Lloris said. “Of course, I have my personal opinion on the topic. And it’s quite close to the [French federation] president’s.”
The French football federation president, Noël Le Graët, stated previously that he would prefer his nation not wear the armband, since it could be viewed as lecturing other nations.
“When we are in France, when we welcome foreigners, we often want them to follow our rules, to respect our culture, and I will do the same when I go to Qatar, quite simply,” Lloris said. “I can agree or disagree with their ideas, but I have to show respect.”
Meanwhile, Denmark’s head coach Kasper Hjulmand said Monday the team would ‘focus on football’ in Qatar, after FIFA rejected the country’s request to wear special jerseys advocating human rights at training.
Speaking to reporters on the eve of the Danish squad’s departure for the World Cup, Hjulmand said that they had as a group “decided we will focus on football.”
“Now we are here, the day before we travel, and for us our expectations are that we land and we do our job,” Hjulmand said.
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Last week FIFA denied the Danish request to be allowed wear jerseys bearing the message “Human Rights for All” during training sessions in Qatar.
“We won’t be wearing that jersey at all,” Jakob Jensen, CEO of the Danish Football Association (DBU) told AFP Monday.
Jensen said that while FIFA’s decision not to allow the jerseys had followed “standard procedure” he added they believed the message “was not very political because this should be a statement that everybody could support.”
At the same time Jensen echoed the sentiment of Hjulmand.
“The players are here to play football, they’re dreaming of winning the World Cup, they should be able to focus on playing,” Jensen said, adding that it was then up to him “and the leadership of the Danish FA to have the discussions on Human Rights.”
“They are absolutely free to express themselves, some of them did, but it’s also OK that some of them just want to focus on football,” he said.
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FIRST FOREIGNERS ARRESTED FOR SCALPING
Qatar announced its first arrests of World Cup ticket touts on Monday, with three foreign men detained outside official ticketing centres in Doha.
Six days from the start of the tournament, the interior ministry said “three people of different nationalities” were arrested and now face criminal proceedings.
The ministry released a statement on Twitter but did not specify the nationalities of those arrested, only stating the men were caught “reselling tickets” outside “official outlets”.
Queues form daily outside FIFA’s main ticketing centre in central Doha, with people hoping to purchase sought-after match tickets.
The statement said those arrested could face fines of up to 250,000 riyals ($A102,500) for each ticket they were found to have sold.
FIFA and the Qatari government repeatedly warn about fake World Cup merchandise. Last week, authorities reported the seizure of 144 counterfeit World Cup trophies.
Previously, car number plates illegally using World Cup imagery and counterfeit clothes using official logos have been targeted by authorities.
Last year a factory producing perfume bottles with World Cup branding was raided.
