Regretful Germany captain Kimmich calls Qatar 2022 ‘best-organised ever’
Germany captain Joshua Kimmich said he regretted the political stance his nation’s football team made in Doha during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
On November 23, 2022, the German players posed for a team picture with their hands over their mouths in the Qatari capital before their opening group match against Japan.
This was done to show their protest against world football’s governing body FIFA, which threatened sanctions against players wearing armbands in support of political causes at the tournament.
Six other European teams, alongside Germany, planned to protest with armbands, but backed down for fear of disciplinary action.
“In general, us players should stand for specific values, especially as the captain of the national team. But it isn’t our job to express ourselves politically all the time,” Kimmich said at a news conference.
“Look at the issue of Qatar. We didn’t present an overall good picture as a team and country. We expressed political opinions, and it took a bit away from the joy of the tournament. It was an outstanding World Cup in terms of organisation,” he said
“Western countries represent views which we think are universal and should be true everywhere. We, as a country, are feeling that we also have problems, [on] our own building sites. So it’s maybe good to focus on that. In the past, we didn’t do everything right. You want to stand for values that are non-negotiable, but we’ve people who should deal with politics and they’re the experts. I’m no political expert,” he said.
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