Solbakken: World Cup should not be in Qatar
NORWAY boss Stale Solbakken has accused football of not doing enough to prevent Qatar hosting the World Cup finals.
Lise Klaveness, president of the Norwegian Football Federation, spoke out strongly about the award of the tournament to the Gulf state at the FIFA Congress in March, and the nation will be sending only one member of staff – an analyst to run the rule over Euro 2024 qualifying opponents Spain.
Solbakken, whose side failed to qualify for the tournament, said: “First of all FIFA has the biggest failing, given the circumstances back when Qatar was given the tournament (in 2010).
“That is obviously the biggest mistake.
“After that, I don’t think football has done enough, I don’t think journalists have done enough. I think you also have been asleep for a long, long time.
“I think it’s only in the last years that it’s suddenly, ‘Oh, the World Cup in Qatar’. The first years after it was given to Qatar, I think the whole world was more or less asleep, including football people and also journalists.”
Asked if he would have been uncomfortable taking his team to Qatar, Solbakken added: “I think nobody is comfortable with it.
“But the teams that are going there, obviously the players’ main issue should be to play football and for the coaches to coach the team. But I think at the same time, football’s political people have a great responsibility to make a stand that this kind of way of where certain World Cups should go.”