FIFA President Gianni Infantino does not understand that clubs are calling for a boycott of the World Cup in Qatar. “This is not the correct solution,” the Swiss told a news conference.
Some Norwegian football clubs, including Rosenborg, have called on their government and national soccer association not to participate in the World Cup qualifiers. “You can’t achieve anything with that,” Infantino said. “It’s always been the case that you can’t change things until you start a dialogue.”
The FIFA President said: “Qatar has already made great strides in terms of human rights in recent years. Perhaps football and the next World Cup have contributed to that. I look forward to a wonderful World Cup.”
More than 6,500 migrant workers have died in the past decade, according to Britain’s Guardian newspaper. Several foreign workers were used to build stadiums for the World Cup.
Infantino said that such figures should be interpreted with caution: “Construction sites directly related to the World Cup have been home to three deaths since 2014,” he said. “The deaths of 34 other workers cannot be directly explained by the work they did there.”
