Southgate confirmed that the FA are educating the players of the situation in Qatar
England boss Gareth Southgate has said that he and the Football Association are educating their players about the ongoing human rights issues in Qatar.
The Middle Eastern state will stage the World Cup across November and December 2022. However, the decision to award the country hosting rights has been met with huge backlash over their appalling human rights records.
Scrutiny has focused on the treatment and living conditions of migrant workers who have worked to get the country prepared for the tournament, as well as the outlawing of homosexuality.
Several countries have used their platforms to raise awareness of the human rights abuse that is going on in Qatar, specifically Norway, Germany and Finland.
While the England national team hasn’t publicly taken a stand, England manager Southgate has confirmed that they are researching to learn more and inform the players of the events that are happening in Qatar.
“Within the FA we’ve done a lot of research, and that’s ongoing, because the world is changing all the time and the situations in every country are changing all the time,” he said on Thursday.
“We think it’s important to prepare the players, in the best possible way, an understanding of what’s going on.
“From a personal position, there are clearly human rights issues that are of concern. A lot of those issues, I don’t think we should be sitting there waiting for a statement that’s going to cover everything.
“I think it’s too complex for one statement to cover all of the issues.”
Southgate was speaking at the announcement of the latest England squad ahead of their March friendlies against the Ivory Coast and Switzerland.
🗣 "We think it's important to prepare the players in the best possible way their full understanding of what's going on."
Gareth Southgate stresses the importance of educating the England squad about the issues occurring in Qatar, with the FA also conducting research pic.twitter.com/MttcsiOUw1
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) March 17, 2022
Among those included were a first senior call-up for Crystal Palace defender Marc Guéhi, while Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford were the two biggest names to miss out.
🚨 Marc Guéhi earns his first senior call-up, while Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho both miss out pic.twitter.com/tUg9nLL6Rq
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) March 17, 2022
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