Roy Keane has slammed the decision to allow Qatar to host the World Cup 2022, stating that the tournament “shouldn’t be here” due to human rights issues.
Speaking on ITV ahead of the Group C game between Argentina and Qatar on Tuesday, the Irish pundit expressed his dismay that Fifa chose to have the World Cup in a country so drenched in controversy.
“The World Cup shouldn’t be here, it shouldn’t be here,” said Keane. “It’s been mentioned there about corruption regarding Fifa, as a country the way they treat migrant workers, gay people and I think it’s great that it has been brought up.
“They shouldn’t have the World Cup, you can’t treat people like that. We all love football, we all love soccer and we’re on about spreading the game. But to dismiss human rights, just because of a football tournament, it’s not right. It shouldn’t be here.”
Keane is just the latest pundit on British TV to address the myriad controversies surrounding the decision to host football’s global showpiece in a country where homosexuality is illegal and their record on the treatment of migrant workers has been lambasted by human rights groups.
Gary Lineker made a speech at the top of the BBC’s coverage ahead of the opening game between Qatar and Ecuador that detailed all the controversies surrounding the tournament.
And Keane’s fellow ITV pundit Graeme Souness also expressed his thoughts ahead of the Argentina vs Saudi Arabia clash.
Souness said: “They [Qatar] will be praying that the football is a great tournament and that people will be talking about that going forward.
“But I’m afraid there are so many activists out there that they’ll be forever talking about Qatar and their human rights record – that’s a fact of life and they’ll have to deal with it.
“By having a World Cup here, they have a chance to put certain things right but they’re not going to put everything right. We don’t live in a perfect world, no-one lives in a perfect world.”
