“The World Cup in Qatar will advance” human rights “very quickly” and the progress is already “tremendous”, said Thursday in an interview with AFP the president of the French Football Federation (FFF). Noel Le Graet.
How do you react to the announcement of Gianni Infantino’s candidacy for a third term at the head of Fifa ?
Noel Le Graet: Me, I’m delighted because I have esteem for him. He worked a lot. In addition, he is moving to Paris (Fifa has opened a branch in the French capital, editor’s note), so he will be with us from time to time. I am very happy that he is running again, he is a good president.
Do you regret the shelving of the biennial Mondial project?
I think they need to discuss because not everyone agreed, especially Europe. The project may not be buried, but there is a need to deepen it and have discussions. You can’t build a project on differences, so it’s under the elbow somewhere and may come out. (On France’s position) (France) needs to discuss, to meet more. Me, I was rather favorable because the big events are after all what attracts people the most. Football needs publicity in many other countries. Western Europe is rich and tends to forget Africa and the others from time to time. For these countries, it was surely an opportunity.
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What is your position on the debates that animated the Congress concerning respect for human rights in Qatar?
We see that the World Cup in Qatar will advance (human rights) very quickly and very significantly. Qatar is opening up to the world, so it could not continue to live in the conditions it had, both in terms of labor law and socially. Quite frankly, the progress has been immense over the past three years. Those who visit in a very neutral way know that it’s not at all the same thing as in Europe at the moment, but that’s completely normal, because these are countries in the process of being built that certainly want to to do better. I believe that many decisions have already been taken in the direction of the social. There have been controversies, but it has been a few years since these decisions were made. What is important is above all that the mentality changes, for us who come to see them, and for them in terms of their responsibilities in relation to the workers.
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