Harry Kane reveals England will consider Qatar World Cup protest

England captain Harry Kane has revealed the squad will discuss whether to join Norway, Germany and the Netherlands in protesting human rights breaches in Qatar ahead of the 2022 World Cup.

Over 6,000 migrant workers are understood to have died in Qatar since they were initially awarded the World Cup in December 2010, many of whom are believed to have been part of the massive building operation needed to prepare Qatar for the tournament.

Germany wore t-shirts to protect the World Cup | Pool/Getty Images

To protest the alleged human rights abuse, Norway, Germany and the Netherlands have all sported t-shirts before their matches this week called for change in the country, and Kane admitted England would discuss doing the same.

"You saw the teams doing it a couple of days ago so I think it’d be a good conversation to have among the players," he said (via the Daily Mail). "And from there I’m sure there’d be an outcome. But I can’t see there being anything against it.

"Like we’ve done with taking the knee, I think it’s important to have everyone’s point of view, everyone in a room discussing what they feel and what they want to do, and then we can make a decision as a group."

Norway also joined the protest | Fran Santiago/Getty Images

There have been some criticisms of those sides who have chosen to wear t-shirts to protest the 2022 World Cup, given they are all currently still fighting for the chance to go to Qatar and be part of the tournament, but those countries have also discussed the idea of boycotting the tournament completely.

A study by Der Spiegel in Germany found that 83% of participants felt it was morally wrong to award the World Cup to Qatar and 68% would be happy to see Die Mannschaft withdraw from the qualification process completely.

There has been no indication that any team would actually boycott the competition, although it's clear that such an idea hasn't exactly been definitely ruled out either.

"Of course we have the World Cup ahead of us," Germany's Leon Goreztka told RTL recently. "This has been discussed again and again.

"We would like to make it clear to society that we are not ignoring it. We are very clear about the conditions that must prevail."


For more from ​Tom Gott, follow him on ​Twitter!


Source : 90min