Macron’s controversial quotes on the 2022 World Cup

French president Emmanuel Macron has stated his belief that “sport should not be politicized” just three days before the most controversial World Cup in history gets underway in Qatar.

FIFA’s decision to award the world’s biggest and most prestigious sporting event to the Gulf state has been fiercely criticised ever since it was made in 2010. The nation’s human rights record, suppression of dissent, persecution of LGBTQ people and mistreatment of migrant workers are among a number of issues that have been highlighted by protestors against Qatar’s suitability as World Cup host.

But president Macron, speaking to reporters at a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Bangkok, believes that the moment for rebelling against it has long gone.

“These questions must be asked whenever the events are awarded,” Macron said. “It should be when hosting the event is decided, whether it is the World Cup or the Olympic Games, that we must honestly ask ourselves the question.”

“And whether the question is on the climate or human rights, it is not necessary to ask it when the event comes. The question should be asked whenever hosting is decided,” the French president insisted.

“The vocation of these big events is to allow athletes of all countries, including sometimes of countries at war, to allow sport to exist and sometimes find, through sport, ways of discussing when people no longer manage to talk,” Macron continued.

Philipp Lahm and Sepp Blatter: Giving Qatar the 2022 World Cup was a mistake

Writing in his column for Zeit online, former Germany defender Philipp Lahm, who won the World Cup in 2014, recently wrote that “FIFA has damaged football and its credibility as a western organisation. There’s practically no opportunity for girls to play. Homosexuals are still being criminalised, women do not have the same rights as men, and there are restrictions on freedom of the press and expression.”

Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who was in the post when the decision was taken to award the tournament to Qatar, has also admitted that it was a mistake.

LGBTQ community ‘beaten and sexually harassed’ in Qatar

And Human Rights Watch, an NGO which conducts research and advocacy on human rights, published a report in October which documented alleged cases of beating and sexual harassment of LGBTQ people by security forces in Qatar over the last three years. They also claimed members of the LGBTQ community were being “arbitrarily arrested and ill-treated in detention.”

Controversy building as world descends on Qatar for 2022 World Cup

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With the tournament just days away, players, managers, federation presidents, broadcasters, sponsors, fans and more have already jetted into the Arab state and further controversies have started to arise. On Tuesday, beer brand Budweiser, who have paid around $75m to sponsor the World Cup, were informed that the highest echelons of the Qatar state had decided that their beer stations be moved to less prominent locations. Alcohol is ‘controlled’ rather than ‘banned’ in Qatar.

Later the same day, a Danish television crew was interrupted by Qatari officials as they were filming, ordered to immediately stop recording and threatened with violence. It was later confirmed that both the Qatar International Media Office and the Qatar Supreme Committee had offered an apology.