"Let's not fool ourselves: once football starts, it will swallow everything"

Former English soccer star Gary Lineker has said he refused to play an active role in the Qatar World Cup draw. "I don't support the World Cup. I was also asked to do the draw for Fifa, so I refused because I thought it was hypocrisy," Lineker said in an interview with the "SZ".

It was his corrupt application, "we all know that," said Lineker: "Half of those who were involved are either in prison today or have been banished. The World Cup shouldn't have been awarded there," said the 61-year-old.

At the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Lineker was still present at the draw. Back then, the former England international once revealed, he avoided Vladimir Putin. "Before a World Cup, it's often about the problems. Before the World Cup in South Africa and Brazil, people took to the streets and asked: Why are we having the World Cup when there are so many social problems to solve? There were also concerns in Russia. But let's face it, once football starts, it's going to eat everything up,” said Lineker, who is a BBC reporter at the World Cup that begins November 20 in Qatar.

For example, the English TV broadcaster spoke to the human rights organization Amnesty International about how to deal with sports washing, Lineker said. "Sportswashing only works if you stop talking about problems. But we're going to talk about human rights and stadium construction issues, probably on the opening show."

Lineker finds it unfair that footballers are asked to do more than politicians, for example. “We sometimes forget that we are not exactly perfect in our country either, that we sell weapons to this part of the world. But we expect the footballers to do something about it," he said. “Politicians will use football however they want because it is powerful and has an impact. They'll be happy to tell you to focus on football, and if they don't like it, they'll say, 'Why don't you fight back?'".

In addition to other human rights violations, World Cup host Qatar has also been criticized for its treatment of foreign workers, which is considered inhumane. Most recently, the Qatari World Cup ambassador Khalid Salman had caused horror and described homosexuality as "mental damage".

"You can't expect a 25-year-old to repeat what went wrong 15 years ago," says ex-soccer pro Benjamin Adrion in response to criticism of the World Cup in Qatar. The best thing a footballer can do now is do everything in his power to make a mark.

Source: WORLD