The Spaniard, on tour in Latin America, spoke about the controversy that arose in the World Cup in Qatar 2022
FIFA denied several teams the possibility of wearing a bracelet with a rainbow and the motto “One Love”
Rafa Nadal said this Thursday that anyone “should have freedom of expression” to show their feelings at the Qatar 2022 World Cup, in relation to FIFA’s ban on displaying “political signs” such as the flag of the LGTBI+ community.
“We are in a global world in which people must have more and more rights. Everyone should have the freedom to express the feelings they have, as long as they do not harm others“said the tennis player at a conference in Santiago de Chile.
Nadal, however, pointed out that the goal of the World Cup should be soccer: “Sport is a place to express yourself, because it has global exposure at the media level, but, beyond all that, For me the important thing is that you end up playing football“.
“The decisions that FIFA makes or doesn’t make may seem better or worse to me, but in the end they are rules and attitudes that they want to take in their event. The rest must be free to express themselves and show their disagreement, as is already happening,” he added.
FIFA prohibited soccer players from showing “political signs” during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, a controversial decision in response to criticism of the lack of labor rights for people who worked on the construction sites of the tournament stadiums or the country’s harsh laws against the LGTBI+ collective.
On Sunday, FIFA denied England, Wales, Switzerland, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium the chance to wear a rainbow armband with the motto “One Love”.
The prohibition of these symbols generated harsh criticism of the organization of the competition, which materialized in protests such as that of the German team, whose players covered their mouths with a hand in the photo before the game of their debut in the tournament.