Football
Stephan Uersfeld, Germany correspondent 9y

Qatari ambassador writes to German FA to complain about 'ultimatum' call

Qatar's ambassador to Germany, Abdulrahman Al-Khulaifi, has written to the German Football Association (DFB) to complain about its call for a timescale to be imposed on improving working conditions at construction sites for the 2022 World Cup.

A recent Amnesty International report, released in the week in which a FIFA judge cleared Russia and Qatar of corruption in their 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids, said the Gulf State had "not taken credible steps required to tackle widespread labour exploitation."

It added that this situation existed "a year after the systemic abuse of migrant workers hit the headlines around the world."

Late last month, DFB president Wolfgang Niersbach said FIFA should give Qatar a specific period in which to either improve the human rights situation or face losing the right to host the 2022 World Cup.

"From the DFB's perspective, it would be in Qatar's interests to define a period at the end of which an independent body such as Amnesty International... checks and rates the working conditions at the World Cup stadiums," Niersbach, who will stand for a place on the FIFA executive in 2015, told Der Spiegel.

But those comments led Al-Khulaifi to write to the DFB, with Bild quoting him as saying: "Your statement unfortunately creates the impression that we are making little to no progress in our reforms. That's not true."

The paper quoted Niersbach as saying: "I have never spoken of an ultimatum. But I stand by my words -- it would be in the interest of Qatar if progress was to be reviewed to end the debate."

Nasser Al-Khater, the CEO of Qatar's 2022 World Cup organising committee, played down the Amnesty report and told Sport Bild: "We have had no more deaths, and the living conditions [for workers] have improved."

Qatar was backed by FIFA, which released a statement saying "that the hosting of the 2022 FIFA World Cup and the subsequent international spotlight on Qatar is serving as a catalyst for social change."

Meanwhile, Bayern Munich have announced that they will prepare for the second half of the Bundesliga season at the ASPIRE Academy for Sports Excellence in Qatar for a fifth consecutive year.

Sporting executive Matthias Sammer told kicker that the decision had been taken for purely sporting reasons.

"In Qatar, we will have great conditions," he said.

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