Fifa president Gianni Infantino has accused the West of “hypocrisy” in its reporting of Qatar’s treatment of migrant workers. Speaking on the eve of the World Cup, Infantino defended Qatar by saying, “Today I have strong feelings. Today I feel Qatari, I feel Arab, I feel African, I feel gay, I feel disabled, I feel a migrant worker.”
Gianni Infantino, the president of Fifa, criticized the West for its “hypocrisy” in reporting on how Qatar treats migrant workers. Infantino defended Qatar in remarks made on the eve of the World Cup by adding, “I’m feeling quite strong right now. Today, I identify as a migrant worker, a Qatari, an Arab, an African, a gay man, and a disabled person.”
Officials from Qatar have already expressed how they believe they are being singled out by the west and their hypocritical portrayal of concerns affecting LGBTQ+ groups. He said, “This one-sided moral lesson-giving is just hypocrisy.”
“I don’t want to give you any lessons of life, but what is going on here is profoundly, profoundly unjust. For what we Europeans have been doing for the last 3,000 years we should apologize for the next 3,000 years before starting to give moral lessons to people.”
The worries over Qatar’s treatment of migrant workers, women, and the LGBTQ community have dominated the build-up to the tournament in the Gulf state.
Gianni Infantino is scheduled to serve as FIFA president for an additional four years. Due to the lack of interest from other candidates, he is likely to be the only candidate running in the elections next year. In a statement earlier this week, the world’s governing organization of sports said that Infantino was the only candidate to file his nomination for the FIFA elections before the cutoff date.
In response to the FIFA Council’s request for candidates on March 30, 2022, FIFA’s member associations have timely and properly submitted the following candidate for the presidential election… No other candidature has been submitted,” FIFA said in a statement.
