Paris joins big screen boycott of World Cup games from Qatar, but insists ‘the players are human too’
The World Cup has been marred by allegations of racism and exploitation of players in Qatar, with many European countries joining a growing boycott of the tournament.
After failing to convince the International Football Association Board (IFAB) to award the tournament to Australia, football’s governing body Fifa has been forced to announce the move was a “constructive result” and has invited Australia’s Football Federation to meet to discuss the issues.
At the same time, Qatar has announced it will cut some of the most lucrative deals with football in the world and is demanding that the World Cup be moved to other countries in the region.
This has led to growing calls for a boycott over the growing accusations of racism and exploitation.
The decision to boycott the 2022 tournament has been backed by the majority of British MPs and, according to the Guardian, has been supported by a number of nations like Brazil, Germany, Italy, Portugal, the USA, Spain and Australia.
Fifa has insisted that it is powerless to prevent the move on the basis of the World Cup’s contract with Qatar.
However, FIFA’s general secretary Jerome Valcke has admitted that the move is “fatal” and “unsustainable,” and will have “a far-reaching impact”.
World Cup organisers are yet to give a formal response to the boycott threat.
At a high level, Qatar’s actions – or lack thereof – are the main culprit, given that the Qatari government is the only entity operating the World Cup as a profit-making business, not as a charity or public service.
Last week Fifa announced that the governing body had reached a “constructive result” in making the decision to move the tournament and it has invited Australia’s Football Federation to meet to discuss the issues.
The decision to move the tournament is the result of a “constructive result” reached by Fifa, whose executive committee adopted a resolution on Monday night, after two months of deliberation. It says the tournament cannot be held in Qatar.
“At present, it is premature to make an assessment that the new host should or should not be Qatar,” the resolution says. “It would be premature