Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 10:45 am• Tom Rofekamp • Last update: 11:03

In his opening speech for the World Cup, Gianni Infantino mercilessly lashed out at the European countries that criticize host Qatar. The FIFA boss accuses the countries of ‘double standards’, pointing to the fact that they do want to do business with the oil state. Infantino also argues that Qatar is making progress with regard to human rights, and once again emphasizes that it sees nothing in a compensation fund for migrant workers.

The FIFA president started his speech on Saturday with a striking statement. “Today I feel Qatari, Arab, African, gay, disabled and a migrant worker. I feel all of this. Everything I’ve seen in the last few weeks – I don’t read everything because then I would get depressed – takes me back to my personal story. I am a son of migrant workers. My parents worked very hard in difficult circumstances. Not in Qatar but in Switzerland.”

Infantino then said that migrant workers used to be treated pitifully in the Alpine country as well. “How they were treated at the border when they wanted to enter the country to work. With their passports and medical checks with their recommendations. When I came to Doha (the capital of Qatar, ed.) for the first time, I I saw a number of accommodations from migrant workers. I said: ‘This is not good, you have to do something about this.'” said the 52-year-old Swiss.

Since then, however, Infantino has seen considerable improvement. “Just as Switzerland has made progress in the position of migrant workers, so is Qatar. And that has resulted in the abolition of the Kafala system and other improvements. Of course I am not Qatari, Arab, African, gay, disabled or migrant worker. But I do feel like them. Because I know what it feels like to be discriminated against and bullied as a foreigner.”

Double morality

Infantino also had a clear message for the European critics of Qatar. He accused them of double standards, given that they want to do business with the Gulf state, but at the same time spew fire on working conditions. “How many western companies doing billions of dollars in business with Qatar have ever addressed the problem of migrant workers? The answer is zero. Because that would be at the expense of their profits. But FIFA has done this. Qatar has oil, but not yet much more important: gas. All countries are queuing up for this without paying attention to the position of the worker.”

“For what Europe has done in the past 3,000 years, we should be apologizing for the next 3,000 years. And then start lecturing others?” Infantino continued his account, referring to European immigration policy. However, it was not over yet: the European call for a compensation fund for migrant workers also had to be razed to the ground.

“Qatar is a sovereign country,” Infantino said. “Do you think FIFA can go to England, the US or Italy and say ‘we’re here to set up a compensation fund for the position of you migrant workers?’ Qatar itself has a fund for duped workers, from which $350 million was paid out last year to workers in need, mostly for unpaid salaries, but also for victims of industrial accidents,” said the FIFA boss.