FIFA president , Gianni Infantino has backed Qatar’s human right records and also defended the host country’s decision to ban beer from World Cup stadiums.
Infantino took a swipe at European nations while delivering a lecture on the eve of the World Cup’s opening match.
The football chief also spent about 45 minutes answering questions from media about the Qatari government’s actions including other topics.
“Today I feel Qatari,” Infantino stated on Saturday at the start of his first news conference of the World Cup.
“Today I feel Arab. Today I feel African. Today I feel gay. Today I feel disabled. Today I feel a migrant worker.”
“We in Europe, we close our borders and we don’t allow practically any worker from those countries, who earn obviously very low income, to work legally in our countries,” he continued .
“If Europe would really care about the destiny of these people, these young people, then Europe could also do as Qatar did.
“But give them some work. Give them some future. Give them some hope. But this moral-lesson giving, one-sided, it is just hypocrisy.”
Qatar has been faced with criticism since 2010 when it was chosen by FIFA to host the biggest soccer tournament in the world.
It has been reported that migrant workers were subjected to harsh working conditions, wage theft and discrimination by the government led by Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al ThanI
