England centre-back Conor Coady doesn’t think it is “too much ” to expect him and his teammates to comment on non-footballing issues at the 2022 World Cup.
The competition kicks off on Sunday, however much of the build up has been focused on concerns over the country itself.
Qatar has been criticised heavily for its human rights record in relation to migrant workers. But also the lack of rights of women and the illegality of being in a same-sex relationships.
Coady as reported in the BBC, 29, emphasised, “We’re not politicians,”.
“We’ll never be politicians in terms of the way we look at things but, in terms of what the squad has done over the last few years and how much they’ve helped people, that comes with the territory.
“I won’t sit here and say the boys know everything because I don’t think we do but what we will do is try and help as much as we can. Over the last few years the boys have done an incredible job of it.”
He did insist however that him and his teammates main objective is to win games.
It was reported by the Guardian that up to 6,500 migrant workers had died in the construction of Qatar’s World Cup since 2010.
One strong message from the England camp is that “we really believe that football is for absolutely everybody.”
Jonathan Maze | GWCFN