Legendary England cricketer Kevin Pietersen has suggested "every football tournament should be in the Middle East" after he attended the Qatar World Cup.
Pietersen took to Instagram to post a clip of fans outside one of Qatar's stadiums after the tournament ended with Argentina lifting the trophy, having beating France on penalties in what was perhaps the greatest ever World Cup final.
However, Qatar hosting the tournament has been controversial due to the country's poor human rights record, allegations of corruption and the deaths of migrant workers who built the World Cup stadiums.
In his post, Pietersen contrasted the scenes in his clip with the chaos experienced at last year's European Championship when thousands of ticketless fans gained entry to Wembley for the final between England and Italy, with an independent report later describing it as "an appalling scene of disorder."
Pietersen described those scenes as a "disgrace" and said the Qatar World Cup was "on another level", claiming it could be enjoyed by everyone. He wrote: "A football tournament WITHOUT hooligans.
"Having been at that Wembley disgrace last year and now in Qatar, Qatar was so much better. On another level actually. Maybe every football tournament should be in the Middle East where the fan experience can be enjoyed by mums, dads, boys, girls - EVERYONE!
"Well done, Qatar! ps - pls don’t respond with any negativity to this post unless you were physically in Doha and experienced what many people did. Thanks."
In response, many fans were quick to accuse Pietersen of ignoring the many issues surrounding Qatar hosting the tournament, with one writing: "Easy for you to say as a non-LGBTQ+, wealthy man. Of course it's great that the usual hooliganism wasn't there, but at what cost?"
"Not everyone could enjoy safely with the threat of arrest and death no gay or lgbtq+ people could even travel out to watch the game," wrote another. "The alcohol ban was probably the reason there were no hooligans but let's not forget about the corruption and archaic rules surrounding the gay community…. And women's rights in this country. It's a disgrace that this World Cup went ahead in such a hostile place. So no not EVERYONE could enjoy it!"
A third wrote: "Casually ignore the proven corruption and migrant worker deaths that made it so though eh, Kevin..." While another simply said: "If only you cared for minority rights like you care for the rhinos, Kevin…"
