England FUME over FIFA’s plea to keep quiet and focus on football at the World Cup

The FA and other European countries are planning a strong response to FIFA after being told by President Gianni Infantino to continue talking about football during the World Cup.

Sports post has learned that a joint statement by the 13 European countries battling in Qatar will be released this weekend, claiming they have yet to receive crucial information from FIFA on a range of social and political issues arising from the tournament.

European countries are in no mood to back down after receiving an out of the blue letter from FIFA on Friday.

The FA has been part of a UEFA working group on Qatar for 18 months, which has posed a series of key questions to tournament organizers that have yet to be answered.

The UEFA working group has demanded compensation for the families of workers killed in the construction of World Cup stadiums and the creation of a workers’ center in Doha.

The FA also wants clarification on how gay fans will be treated during the tournament and how police will respond to fans’ public intoxication.

Infantino has come under fire from human rights groups for attempting to silence countries labeled as ‘nothing short of terrible’.

The English FA, as well as 12 other European countries, will issue a joint statement this weekend in response to FIFA’s plea for teams at the World Cup to focus on football

Angry European countries await crucial information on important social and political issues

Qatar’s human rights situation and the rights of migrant workers, women and the country’s LBGT community were scrutinized ahead of the event.

Steve Cockburn, Amnesty International’s head of economic and social justice, said: ‘If Gianni Infantino wants the world to ‘focus on football’, there is an easy solution: FIFA can finally start tackling the serious human rights issues instead. from keeping them under wraps. carpet.

“A first step would be to establish a fund to compensate migrant workers and ensure that LGBT people are not discriminated against or harassed. It’s amazing they still haven’t.

“Hundreds of thousands of workers have suffered abuse to make this tournament possible and their rights should not be forgotten or denied. They deserve justice and compensation, not empty words. Time is running out.’

FIFA president Gianni Infantino (left) has come under fire from human rights groups for his advocacy for competing nations to prevent the game from being discredited by issues off the pitch

Yasmine Ahmed, director of Human Rights Watch in the UK, said: ‘The contents of this letter are simply appalling.

“Suggesting that incarcerating LGBT people and allowing serious labor abuses to be cultural or based on belief is not only nonsensical, it is deeply offensive.

“Instead of expending its energies on laundering the abuses in Qatar, FIFA should look for ways to support the thousands of workers and their families who continue to suffer from the World Cup.”

The FA has also teamed up with nine other European countries to create the OneLove campaign. It aims to promote inclusion and fight discrimination during the World Cup and will see captains wearing a bracelet with a rainbow-colored heart.

But FIFA has yet to approve the plan, although England and Wales will go ahead with it despite being fined for violating a ban on political activity.

The Football Association has also teamed up with nine other European countries to create the OneLove campaign – although FIFA has yet to approve the plan two weeks after the tournament.