Former England and Manchester United player Gary Neville has hit back at critics and defended his decision to work at the World Cup in Qatar.
Neville, who has been heavily criticised for working as a pundit for Qatar state broadcasters BeIN Sports, and ITV, insisted the tournament should come to these parts of the world and that he was there to “challenge the system” and “try and advance things”.
He said: “People have criticised our colleagues on the BBC for coming over here but the reality of it is, my view on it quite simply is I detest human rights abuses, I hate the idea of not paying people enough money, people working in poor conditions, the idea of people not having good living conditions.
“The fact that women’s rights aren’t adhered to and human rights abuses, I can’t stand it.”
In an interview with ITV before the opening game between the hosts and Ecuador on Sunday, Neville called out those in power and spoke about current controversies.
He said: “There should be a World Cup in an Arab country, there should be a World Cup in a Muslim country, there should be a World Cup in the Middle East that is a fact.
“But we also need to challenge and scrutinise the things that go on in every country including ours and Qatar.”
Neville took aim at FIFA president Gianni Infantino following his controversial press conference on the eve of kick-off.
He said: “He’s (Infantino) a terrible face for football – that guy. Some of the things he said yesterday were inappropriate and shouldn’t be said by him. He should be statesmanlike – he should be bringing people together.
“He’s the global representative of football – not answering to one or two nations, which he seemed to be doing yesterday. He’s got to rise above it. I’m sick of these leaders – like Johnson, like Trump, like Infantino, like (Sepp) Blatter, who to be fair don’t unite.”
Many wondered just how vocal Neville would be on the issues, and how much he would be willing to say whilst working for Bein Sports.
The former professional believes ex-footballers have been unfairly targeted while others with links to Middle Eastern countries are unscrutinised.
Neville said: “If you think that our government, our political parties have with the Middle East, they own Heathrow Airport, stock exchange, the fact is, football has brought scrutiny and football tournaments have brought scrutiny on this part of the world and the challenges that exist in this part of the world, and these things happen.
“I’m happy for football to front that up. If Prince William doesn’t want to come to this tournament but he’s okay with his father taking charitable donations – that’s fine.
“If the political MPs don’t want to come over but are happy to take money from them in our country for their political parties, that’s fine with me.
“But I see it as footballers and ex-footballers coming under criticism. In my point of view, football should stand up, footballers should stand up.”
