“ Qatar does not respect human rights, But, anyway, let’s forget this. It’s criticisable, but let’s focus on the team. ” says Marcelo , President of Portugal.

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1. Portugal’s President criticises World Cup organiser Qatar but says he will attend Portugal-Ghana match on November 24

   Portugal’s President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, has criticised the organiser of the 2022 World Cup just a few days before it is set to start.

   “Qatar does not respect human rights,” he told reporters after Portugal’s friendly match against Nigeria on Thursday night at José Alvalade Stadium in Lisbon.

   Marcelo stressed the human rights violations committed during the construction of the World Cup stadiums in Qatar, but said that the focus now must be on supporting the team.

   “But, anyway, let’s forget this. It’s criticisable, but let’s focus on the team. We started very well and finished on a high note,” Marcelo said regarding the friendly, which Portugal won 4-0. Bruno Fernandes (2x), Gonçalo Ramos and João Mário scored the goals.

2. Interestingly, he was also the only NATO leader who attended Putin’s World Cup opening ceremony in 2018.

   He seems to have a soft spot for football in authoritarian regimes.

3. let’s focus on boycotting this fiasco

4. Can I get a list of the situations when human rights can be ignored and when they can’t be?

   This is starting to get confusing.

5. Same president that said this about sexual abuse in the country :

   ” Having 400 cases of sexual abuse does not seem particularly high to me because in other countries with shorter [investigation time horizons] there were thousands of cases “

6. It’s understandable, Portugal takes football very seriously

7. Football is cancer.

8. You know, human rights ⚖️ football, clearly you have to choose football, much more important no doubt… next to religion it is the opium of the people, “Panem et circenses”….

9. Most people just think that they don’t say it out loud