December 20 – The head of Qatar’s World Cup organising committee hopes visiting fans will change their views about his country in the same way misconceptions about Russia were altered at the 2018 tournament.
“Football is not exclusive to one part of the world, to one culture, to one society, football is for all of us,” Hassan al-Thawadi told Reuters on the fringes of the Club World Cup.
“Forget ideologies, forget utopia, what it simply does is it breaks down stereotypes and I think in this day and age, we need to utilise more these opportunities, to break down stereotypes between people. I think that is essential”.
In other interviews with reporters attending the seven-club event, al-Thawadi stressed progress had been made in reforming the human rights of migrant workers.
Dogged by criticism of Qatar’s kafala system, which ties migrant workers to their employers, al-Thawadi, Secretary General of the Supreme Committee, said a definitive end to the antiquated process would be set out next month enabling “every person living in the country (to have) the freedom to move from one job to another and live their lives, change jobs whenever they want and leave the country as they want.”
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