The Norway players sent a clear message to the Qatar World Cup organisers ahead of their clash with Gibraltar yesterday evening.
Norway, who have become dark horses in the international game after the emergence of several hugely talented players, including the generational Erling Haaland, used their platform for good yesterday evening.
MORE: Carragher takes savage Twitter jibe at Neville after Salford City sacking
Ahead of kick-off, every player could be seen wearing a t-shirt which reiterated the need for people’s basic human rights to be respected, which is something that shouldn’t even have to be said in this day and age, in truth.
‘Human rights. On and off the pitch.’
Norway’s national team shared this message after calls to boycott the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. pic.twitter.com/VnfgB8S3X6
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) March 24, 2021
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
It was a powerful message, though, and one with plenty of reasoning behind it.
With this being Norway’s first qualifying game for next year’s World Cup in Qatar, they clearly felt inclined to ensure the reported human rights violations in the Far East are not being overlooked.
As reported by the Guardian, an (under)estimated 6,500 migrants have died in Qatar since the country was awarded the rights to host the World Cup next summer.
It’s an astonishing finding that is not spoken about nearly enough. Fair play to Norway for tackling it this publicly.