“I can well imagine that everything is carefully considered at the DFB”says sports lawyer Lehner. He doesn’t believe in the players going it alone, they would certainly have insured themselves. The protest of the German national players may have been accompanied legally from the beginning so as not to step on FIFA’s feet too much.
Protest movement from the Netherlands
So far, without any German intervention, a protest movement is forming at the same time. Under the slogan “Football Supports Change” (“Football supports change”) should unite as many national teams and associations as possible and carry out joint activities. The idea comes from the Netherlands.
They want to point out the problems in Qatar and are already in contact with the Qatari embassy. A Dutch delegation will soon be traveling to the Gulf to get an idea of the local situation, the association announced in response to a request from the sports show.
Accordingly, the players of the “Elftal” approached the association with the desire to do something. During the World Cup qualifier against Latvia on Saturday (March 27th, 2021), the players wore shirts with the slogan for the first time. Denmark followed suit on Sunday with the same shirts.
Joint actions planned
“It will be more effective if we act collectively and bring different countries together than if we act individually”said “Oranje” attacker Memphis Depay. Defender Matthijs de Ligt said it had already come into contact with several players’ unions as a result.
The Dutch association has confirmed to the Sportschau that several associations have been made aware of the campaign directly, but they did not want to confirm whether the DFB was there – anything else would come as a surprise, however.
The three-time vice world champion wants to take other countries with him. Just like the Norwegian team around Dortmund’s Erling Haaland. Before the game against Turkey, the Norwegians wore T-Shirts with the explicit question “Norway, Germany, Next?” – So: who else is taking part and joining? To do this, the players held up their left hand – the international symbol for human rights.
How realistic is a boycott?
So far, however, all those involved want to refrain from a boycott – fan initiatives have repeatedly called for the 2022 World Cup to be boycotted. National coach Joachim Löw recently spoke out against it. This means that the associations are actually on the same line as the human rights organization “Amnesty International”.
The organization is much more concerned that a boycott could set back the clearly visible improvements on site. The people of Qatar would hope for international solidarity rather than boycotts. It goes around “international attention that effectively and loudly urges further improvements”, it says in a message.
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