7:48 – The Dutch national team has qualified for the World Cup in Qatar and so it is time for the Orange to speak out against the violation of human rights in the organizing country. However, it remained remarkably quiet from national coach Louis van Gaal after the placement and that can count on a lot of criticism in the Dutch media.
After the qualification against Norway, the national coach was asked about the situation in Qatar. Complex political issues should not be left to the players and a coach, argued Van Gaal, speaking to the press via video link from his wheelchair. General Newspaperjournalist Sjoerd Mossou. ‘The KNVB has appointed secretary-general Gijs de Jong for this, the coach said.’
And that is not the statement one should expect from Van Gaal. “The man who dares to speak out about absolutely everything cannot ignore the blood, perversity and injustice of this World Cup,” said Mossou. ‘Unintentionally, there was something ironic about that answer too. Last Friday in Podgorica, the same Van Gaal had extensively assessed Prime Minister Mark Rutte and the Dutch corona policy. The national coach is almost never afraid to elaborate, to give his honest opinion. But when Qatar came up, Van Gaal pushed the subject strategically ahead of him.’
According to Mossou, Van Gaal must speak out, because he reaches an audience of millions and a simple representative like De Jong certainly does not. ‘The World Cup will be his last job, his wonderful career will soon be complete, he is financially and – much more importantly – mentally independent. The national coach really doesn’t have to stand on the barricades as an activist for a year, but looking sideways at Gijs de Jong will no longer be an option in Qatar.’
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Amnesty International Press
Also in newspaper Fidelity there was room for Van Gaal’s answers about the human rights situation in Qatar. The human rights organization Amnesty International called on the football world this week to put even more pressure on the regime in Qatar. Van Gaal acknowledged that his words could make more of an impression than those of the rather unknown secretary-general Gijs de Jong of the KNVB.
Yet there was no clear signal from the choice lord’s words. As national coach, Louis van Gaal regularly gives his opinion on all kinds of things, from a minority cabinet to the approach to the corona crisis and the leadership of Prime Minister Mark Rutte. However, he did not want to comment on human rights in Qatar, a country that obtained the World Cup through corruption and where possible thousands of migrant workers have died building stadiums.’
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