France’s captain Hugo Lloris, believes players are under “too much pressure” to speak on Qatar’s human rights issues ahead of their first-ever world cup tournament after they appealed to foreigners and players to respect their culture in the event of their arrival.
The host country happens to be one of the 69 countries that prohibit same-sex relationships, but this did not deter Fifa from awarding the Middle Eastern monarchy this year’s men’s World Cup back in 2010.
During France’s final press conference before flying out to Qatar on Tuesday, the Les Bleus goalkeeper hinted he will not be wearing a rainbow armband as a campaign against the discrimination but admits there’s too much pressure on the players. [via DailyMail]
“There’s too much pressure on the players. We are at the bottom of the chain.”
“If you have to apply pressure, first of all it had to be 10 years ago. Now it’s too late. You have to understand that for players this opportunity happens every four years and you want every chance to succeed. The focus has to be on the field. The rest is for politicians. We are athletes”, said the Tottenham goalkeeper.
The French national team will be heading into the World Cup as defending champions after their success in Russia in 2018. They face Australia, Tunisia and Denmark in Group D.
