Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra said on Thursday that she would go to Qatar if the Blues reach the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup (November 20-December 18) and judged “important that we rebalance and that we talk more about the athlete».
«I hope to go to Qatar, I will go if the team advances (…), I still leave myself a little flexibility, but yes if we are at the level of the quarter-finals at some point, it is a course which is important, and the role of a sports minister is to be alongside the team“, she said on Franceinfo radio.
Asked about the presence of President Emmanuel Macron, she replied: “he has an excessively demanding schedule and he will find space the day he deems he must be alongside the team».
The Minister will also meet the players of the France team “next monday eveningat Clairefontaine, the base camp of the Blues, before their departure Wednesday for Qatar. She will also carry the messages of the president, who does not “can’t be there” Monday.
Asked about human rights in Qatar and the expression of players, she said: the coach “Didier Deschamps pronounced the important word which is + freedom +, each of the players has his conscience, has his freedom, has his way of expressing himself and one must not impose a straitjacket, an attitude».
Asked if she advised gay fans against traveling to Qatar, she replied: “no, I don’t see why they wouldn’t».
In reaction to the leaders of Fifa, who called on the 32 teams participating in the Qatari World Cup (November 20-December 18), surrounded by controversies on human rights, to “focus on soccer“, Ms. Oudéa-Castéra judged that “which is “important is that we rebalance, it’s that we talk more about the athlete, that we manage to project ourselves into the concrete of a team.”
«This World Cup is also an opportunity to put the spotlight on this country and to continue to push the diplomatic fires for the respect of human rights, for the ecological transition and that is also what it is for.“, she added.