During his opening speech in front of the World Cup on Saturday, the President of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, called out the Western countries for their “hypocrisy” and lambasted the criticism that was directed on the hosts of the event in Qatar.
“For what we Europeans have been doing around the world in the last 3,000 years, we should be apologizing for the next 3,000 years before starting to give moral lessons to people,” the head of the organization that governs football said.
“For what we Europeans have been doing around the world in the last 3,000 years.”
“How many of these European or Western corporate enterprises who make millions or billions from Qatar have addressed the issue of the rights of migrant workers with the authorities?”
“None of them, because changing the legislation would result in a lower amount of profit. But we did it, and the revenue that FIFA brings in from Qatar is far lower than that of any of these other firms.
The head of FIFA gave a speech that lasted for over an hour in which he defended both the event and Qatar.
The nation has been under intense scrutiny for the state of human rights there, as well as for the number of deaths that have occurred among migrant workers and members of the LGBTQ community.
The first thing that Infantino said during his monologue was, “Today I have strong sentiments. Today I feel like a migrant worker, a Qatari, an Arab, an African, a homosexual person, and someone with a disability all rolled into one.
Gianni Infantino comment was roundly attacked as soon as it was posted on social media. A significant number of the detractors brought up the issue that if he were homosexual, he would not be allowed to publicly acknowledge it in Qatar since Islamic Sharia law considers homosexuality to be a crime.
Former Qatar national team player Khalid Salman, who is one of the Ambassadors for the World Cup, referred to being homosexual as “damage in the psyche” in an interview before to the commencement of the tournament on Sunday.