LONDON London. It seems that the era of political statements by the German football team is over. Coach Julian Nagelsmann has expressed his desire for the players to focus only on the game and not get involved in political gestures. “We saw in Qatar (at the 2022 World Cup) that a lot of political issues can hurt a team,” Nagelsmann told broadcaster NTV on Tuesday. “I think we all learned from it and we should learn from it. So we have experts who take care of these things and they should take care of them. We are experts in sports and take care of sports.”
Germany flopped at the World Cup in Qatar after a campaign dogged by criticism of the host nation's human rights record. Many German fans called for a boycott of the tournament – some bars in Berlin and beyond refused to show it – and players and politicians made gestures in support of equal rights and tolerance. German Minister Nancy Fesser wears a “One Love” armband next to FIFA President Gianni Infantino, while Germany players cover their mouths to protest the ban on armbands imposed by FIFA Team photo before the World Cup's first match Which was widely seen as a rebuke to Qatar.
Nagelsmann's comments on Tuesday were reminiscent of comments made last week by Germany captain Joshua Kimmich, who expressed regret over the team's gestures in Qatar, saying they “took away the joy of the tournament.” “It is not our job to express ourselves politically,” Kimmich said. Human rights are again an issue as Saudi Arabia is set to be confirmed as 2034 World Cup host at the FIFA Congress on 11 December. Saudi Arabia is the only candidate. Broadcaster RTL reported that the German Football Federation would vote in favor of the state as host despite criticism from trade unions and human rights groups such as Amnesty, Human Rights Watch and Fairsquare.
Comments are closed.