Together with their counterparts in Norway and Denmark demanded SvFF in a letter to the International Football Association Fifa a meeting to discuss next year’s World Cup in Qatar.
On Monday last week, the meeting was attended by and included around 25 national federations, the human rights organization Amnesty, the ILO (UN specialized agency for working life issues), the International Construction Union and Qatar’s local organizing committee.
On the agenda were, of course, the conditions of guest workers in Qatar, how Fifa intends to work with the situation even after the World Cup was held in November and December 2022, but also hotel and restaurant issues.
– It was general information from these organizations and then questions and views were presented to Fifa about the handling of the World Cup, says Karl-Erik Nilsson.
The issue of boycott is still reminded of parts of the Swedish football movement; both within Gais and most recently Djurgården votes have been raised, in the form of motions at the clubs’ respective annual meetings, for Sweden to say no to the championship in the event of a World Cup advancement.
Karl-Erik Nilsson, however, certifies that no one expressed these positions at last week’s Fifa meeting.
– This issue was also up at this meeting. There are no trade unions, not Amnesty International or any of the participating national unions that prefer a boycott, says the Swedish union president.
“The decision to grant The World Cup tournament to Qatar was wrong “, SvFF stated in its letter to Fifa in April, but the ambition to get to the championship and compete in the usual order is not affected.
– Everyone else thinks that “the decision has been made, we have negative views but this is what applies”. It is better to influence and create a better development on the spot. It’s something that construction workers down there, in the contacts we’ve had, appealed to us not to stop getting there. “The fact that you are here and pushing contributes to improvements,” they say. Boycott rather risks contributing to deterioration, says Karl-Erik Nilsson.
Is SvFF’s position on this issue unshakable even if a strong opinion were to emerge against Sweden participating in the World Cup?
– We are a democratic organization and it is our members who ultimately decide. But I hope that the entire membership thinks that we should participate and compete and not boycott this. Nobody thinks that boycott is a good medicine.
– As it looks today, we are happy to qualify. We do everything to qualify, but we will also continue to raise these issues and contribute to the best working and living conditions as possible, says Karl-Erik Nilsson.
According to the British The Guardian, at least 6,500 migrant workers have died in work-related accidents since Qatar was awarded the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Read more:
New report says no to Norwegian World Cup boycott
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