Don't really know what boycotting World Cup would achieve, admits Gareth Southgate
Southgate comments on potential boycott of World Cup
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England manager Gareth Southgate has asserted that boycotting the upcoming World Cup held in Qatar would not achieve anything as the tournament will still go ahead as planned. FIFA has been criticized since they awarded the 2022 World Cup to Qatar despite the abuse of their human rights allegations.
FIFA faced severe scrutiny and backlash when they awarded Qatar the right to host the 2022 World Cup in 2010. The Arab nation has been the source of widespread criticism in regards to issues concerning corruption and human rights abuse allegations. Several teams and federations have called out FIFA for its inability in handling several situations such as the nonhumane treatment of its migrant workers.
England booked their place at the prestigious tournament last November and will be among the favorites to claim national glory. Three Lions captain Harry Kane had spoken out earlier this week, insisting that his side would try to help as much as possible in understanding these issues.Â
England manager Gareth Southgate spoke to his players on Tuesday to address the various controversies that surround the tournament including the host country's poor human rights record and backward stance towards the LGBTQ+ community.
The Englishman admitted that these issues are complex and have to be understood although asserted that boycotting the tournament will not achieve anything.Â
"I don't really know what that achieves. It would be a big story, but the tournament would go ahead. The fact, unfortunately, is the biggest issue, which is non-religious and non-cultural, is what happened with the building of the stadiums and there is nothing we can do about that either, sadly. We have known for eight years that this is going to be in Qatar. Is the stance against Qatar as a country? We are intertwined, as we are seeing with Russia, with all sorts of investment in this country,” Southgate told reporters in his pre-match press conference.
"This is complicated. The issues themselves aren't complicated; all the repercussions of diplomatic relations and dealing with other countries and other organisations are extremely complicated,” he added.
