Goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, captain of France’s world champions, stressed on Monday that “respect needs to be shown” to Qatar in light of disagreements over several issues over its hosting of the World Cup final starting on Sunday.
“Before you do anything, you need to get the approval of FIFA and the (French) federation,” the Tottenham goalkeeper said at a press conference in Clairefontaine, where the French team trains.
And he said in response to a question about wearing a colored stripe badge to express his opposition to discrimination and support for gay people: “When we welcome foreigners to France, we often want them to abide by our rules and respect our culture. do the same when I go to Qatar. I may or may not agree with their ideas, but I must. To show respect.”
The leaders of several European teams, including France, wore colored striped badges last September during the League of Nations to express their solidarity with LGBT people and their rejection of discrimination. This is expected to continue in Qatar, a country where homosexuality is criminalized.
In Lloris’s absence at the time, the armband was worn by France’s second captain, Raphael Varane, but French federation president Le Grey wanted Lloris to retire it in Doha.
“I wish (Loris) didn’t do that,” Le Grae told L’Equipe earlier this month. “We’re playing in a country that we have to respect. But if we have to wear it, we’ll wear it.” . It’s not that I’m against this badge, but sometimes I feel like we want to take lessons instead of also looking at what’s going on in our country.”
Notably, France, the 1998 and 2018 world champions, were placed in Group D at the World Cup in Qatar along with Denmark, Australia and Tunisia.
Source: AFP.