Jamie Carragher has continued his critique of FIFA’s decision to host the World Cup in Qatar mid-season after another prominent player was ruled out of the tournament through injury.
The tournament has faced continued criticism ever since the Middle Eastern country was announced as the host back in December 2010. Much of that centres around Qatar’s human rights issues, its treatment of migrant workers and the way it won the FIFA vote.
But with the tournament just weeks away, and with the first game kicking off in Doha on November 20, there has been a renewed wave of anger. The first winter World Cup has condensed the first half of the football season, forcing a packed fixture schedule and exposing players to a greater risk of injuries.
Recent weeks have seen numerous players ruled out of the World Cup, with Ben Chilwell the latest concern for England after picking up a hamstring injury in Chelsea ’s 2-1 win over Dinamo Zagreb on Wednesday. In the latest blow to another European heavyweight, RB Leipzig have confirmed that Timo Werner will not play for Germany at the World Cup after sustaining ankle ligament damage.
The news of Werner’s heartbreak has prompted Carragher to tweet : “The next week will be like this for a lot of players. @FIFAWorldCup.” The former Liverpool defender is building on an impassioned tirade he made against football’s governing body on CBS Sports earlier this week.
“If you play your last league game and the first game of the World Cup is a week later, even a small injury can keep you out. A big injury is always going to keep you out – that’s football. That was the point on injuries,” he began.
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“It’s not just the injuries right now don’t forget. Think of us in terms of the Champions League : we’ve crammed the group stages into two months when normally there would be another month. Everything has been crammed in now. There’s no thought for the players.
“The players are treated like animals. I’m not just talking about now, I’m talking in general. There are always new competitions popping up and this just sums things up: FIFA, the biggest organisation in world football, who organise the biggest competition in the world that only comes around every four years, don’t care about the players. All they care about is money.”
He added: “The frustration with me was that we, as a football world, just accepted that a World Cup went to a country – and it’s not about that country of that area never getting a World Cup, there’s no problem with that. It’s the fact we know how corrupt FIFA have been for so long, going back to Sepp Blatter’s days.
“It’s common knowledge that it was won by brown envelopes going to FIFA or heads of certain areas or countries to switch their votes. And that’s not me being bitter about England not getting the World Cup.”
