Former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger slammed for ‘disgraceful’ comments on World Cup protests

Arsene Wenger has made the headlines for the wrong reasons after comments on 2022 FIFA World Cup protests.
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Former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has come in for criticism after his comments on protests at the World Cup.

Qatar’s hosting of this winter’s World Cup has been heavily criticised over recent years, and particularly in the months and weeks leading up to the competition. Amid migrant worker deaths and a lack of rights for the LGBTQ+ community in the country, Qatar and FIFA have had to bat off huge criticism from fans, pundits and associations.

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One of the biggest controversies was FIFA’s decision to threaten sanctions for nations who planned to win the ‘OneLove’ armband, which promotes LGBTQ+ rights. England, Wales and a number of other nations decided not to risk the sanctions and went quietly.

Meanwhile, Germany didn’t wear the armband but posed for a pre-match photo covering their mouths ahead of their first game, signalling that they had been silenced by FIFA. Germany went on to be eliminated in the group stage, while those who claimed they should have ‘concentrated on football’, such as Eden Hazard and Rob Page also saw their nations eliminated at the same stage.

Meanwhile, former Arsenal boss turned FIFA employee Wenger has added criticism for the likes of Germany.

“Going to the World Cup, you know you have to not lose the first game,” said Wenger, as cited by CNN. Other teams who have experience, they have results in former tournaments like France, like England, like Brazil – they played well in the first game. And the teams as well who were mentally ready … [and] had the mindset to focus on competition and not on political demonstrations.”

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Former Australia midfielder and now human rights activist Craig Foster criticised those comments on Twitter, writing: “Disgraceful comments by Wenger. Propagating the FIFA line that athletes shouldn’t stand up for human rights & that a desire for social justice inhibits athletic performance. Human rights aren’t politics, Arsene & values shouldn’t be for sale.”