Jürgen Klopp goes wild for minutes about the World Cup in Qatar: ‘We already let this happen 12 years ago’ Foreign football

According to the German, it is obvious that the tournament should never have been assigned to Qatar. But it bothers him that much is now placed on the players’ plate. ,,I don’t like players being forced into a situation where they have to make a statement. You are all journalists and should have spread the word. Not the most critical articles were written about it at the time.”

He is referring to the moment when Qatar was designated as host at the FIFA congress twelve years ago. “At that point it was already clear what was going on there and what would happen. That it is difficult, no actually impossible, to build a stadium in Qatar when it is 50 degrees. It’s not good for people to be outside doing hard, physical work. We knew that there were almost no stadiums in the entire country. I don’t think anyone made a point of that on that day.”

,,And in the years that followed there were plenty of opportunities to say: ‘the process did not go well’. Many people took money for the wrong reasons. But nothing has changed. How could that happen?”

Klopp notices that it is now mainly the players and trainers who are being addressed about their participation in the World Cup in Qatar and are asked to take a clear position. ,,That they have to wear a special bracelet, and if they don’t they are in the wrong camp. That is not a good situation for the players.”

“No, they are football players. They have to play football and do it as well as possible. Don’t constantly put Gareth Southgate in a situation where he has to talk about everything. He is not a politician, nor am I. He has an opinion, but he is not a politician.”

He therefore gives the journalists in the room a clear message: ,,If you want to write something else about it, then do it. But then do it yourself, without involving us. It’s not going to change anything. We all let it happen—you more than me—twelve years ago.”