“I feel gay”: the head of FIFA Infantino scolded the critics of the football championship

The FIFA World Cup begins in Qatar. And it takes place against the backdrop of criticism pouring in from the West against the Middle Eastern country – the mistress of the championship. It got to the point where the FIFA president delivered an impassioned speech that the West should not criticize Qatar’s hosting of the World Cup, adding that European countries should instead apologize for their history.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino, at a press conference dedicated to the opening of the tournament, said that those who criticize Qatar are not able to “give moral lessons to people.”

The small Middle Eastern country has been scolded in the West for its treatment of migrant workers and its attitude towards the rights of sexual minorities, reminds Sky News. And the sudden decision by the Qatari authorities to ban the sale of alcohol in all stadiums, taken just before the opening of the 2022 World Cup, also raised concerns about guarantees given on larger and more important issues.

But defending the host nation, Gianni Infantino said: “For what we Europeans have done around the world for the past 3,000 years, we must apologize for the next 3,000 years before we start giving people moral lessons. How many of these European or Western business companies that make millions in Qatar, billions, how many of them have approached the authorities about the rights of migrant workers? None of them, because if you change the law, it means less profit.”

He added: “Today I feel like a Qatari. Today I feel like an Arab. Today I feel like an African. Today I feel gay. Today I feel disabled. Today I feel like a labor migrant. Of course, I’m not Qatari, I’m not Arab, I’m not African, I’m not gay, I’m not disabled. But I feel it because I know what it means to be discriminated against, to be intimidated, like a foreigner in a foreign country. As a child, I was bullied because I had red hair and freckles, plus I was Italian, just imagine. What do you do then? You are trying to interest, make friends. Don’t start blaming, fighting, insulting, start doing business. And that’s what we have to do.”

Despite Qatar making a last-minute U-turn on the sale of alcohol in the tournament’s eight stadiums, and the impact this could have on other assurances made, Infantino told Sky News: “I feel like I’m 200% in control of this World Cup, absolutely”.

The head of FIFA also attempted to downplay the Qatari authorities’ alcohol turnaround, pointing out that similar bans were in place at stadiums in Scotland, France and Spain.

Infantino said: “I think it’s never too late to change. We may have to make other changes in between other topics, I don’t know. But when it comes to the security of people – you were talking about LGBT – the security of everyone is guaranteed at the highest level of the country. This is the guarantee we gave and we stick to it.”

Qatari’s “kafala system” is a set of labor laws that allow Qatari individuals or entities to confiscate workers’ passports and prevent them from leaving the country. Rights groups say the practice has given World Cup organizers free rein to exploit migrant workers, subjecting them to grueling working conditions for little pay and preventing them from returning home until projects materialize.

There have been reports of deaths of migrant workers, ranging from a few dozen to several thousand in the 12 years leading up to the tournament, Sky News reported.

With regard to sexual minorities, the Sharia in Qatar provides for punishment for same-sex sexual relations from seven years in prison to the death penalty by stoning.

Despite Western condemnation, FIFA and Qatar are desperately hoping that once football proper begins, the criticism will end. As noted by Sky News, Qatar takes no pleasure in the international criticism that the Muslim country has attracted both during the preparation and now at the start of the first World Cup tournament and now all the World Cup organizers want is — is to prove to the world that the critics are wrong.

Despite all the controversy that preceded this World Cup, and there were many, Saturday night in Doha was a night for fans. Some 40,000 people gathered in the city’s main fan zone to greet a tournament the likes of which we’ve never seen before: it’s the first World Cup in a Muslim country, the first in the Middle East, and the first to take place in the winter.