Frida Karlsson: – This has never happened in cross-country skiing

The criticism of the football World Cup in Qatar, as you know, has been criticized on several occasions. During the championship in the oil state, seven nations predicted that the captains was playing with a rainbow captain’s armband that reads “One Love”showing their support for inclusion and LGBTQ people.

But then the International Football Federation (FIFA) took the field and banned the use of the blindfold. Fifa ruled that such marking should be punished with a yellow card for the captain, which led to the seven nations having to abandon the plans.

– It happened in cross-country skiing

Swedish cross-country skiing star Frida Karlsson naturally picked up on the criticisms that were leveled at the Qatar World Cup.

– The mistake is mainly that they chose to organize the championship there, he says in an interview with the Swede The Espresso.

– It had never worked in cross-country skiing. Then everyone would have challenged him and would not have left any athlete in the competition, Karlsson answers questions about what the reactions would have been like if the FIS had threatened sporting sanctions similar to Fifa’s at the World Cup in relation to the “One Love” captain’s armband.

She is convinced that cross-country skiing is in a much stronger position to put pressure on the International Ski Federation (FIS) than football is able to put on Fifa.

– FIS is so small. Football is the whole world. If all of Sweden boycotted a championship, that ski race would no longer be interesting. But it is possible to organize the World Cup without a couple of football clubs, Karlsson points out.

– A threat that was taken seriously

TV 2 cross-country expert Petter Skinstad thinks Karlsson has some big points.

– We saw this recently when the FIS was unable to make a decision what to do with Russian athletes when war broke out against Ukraine. Then the Nordic countries informed that they would boycott the competitions if the Russians were allowed to start quietly, Skinstad says, and continues:

– It’s not entirely certain whether this was the trigger, but at least it was a threat that was taken seriously, he says.

– But if Brazil had boycotted the World Cup…

Skinstad agrees completely with Karlsson that cross-country skiing has a much greater opportunity to put pressure on the FIS than football has a chance to put pressure on FIFA.

– Frida Karlsson is absolutely correct that there is a much greater signaling effect in a sport where around 60 nations participate in a World Cup or the Olympics, than in a soccer World Cup where over 200 nations fight for qualify for the World Cup, points out TV 2 – the expert, before stating however:

– But having said that, if you compare Sweden in cross-country skiing with a team in yellow at the World Cup, namely Brazil, I think they would have given a dutiful signal to Fifa if they had, for example, boycotted the World Cup in Qatar due to human rights violations.