Football Supports Change

International campaign in support of human rights in Qatar - Foto:

The Netherlands football team, and their captain in particular, kick-started the ‘Football Supports Change’ campaign at Saturday's World Cup qualifier with Latvia. The campaign stands for:

‘A band on your arm really means something in football.
You are leading your team; within your club, for your country, you are in the spotlight.
An armband in football has impact, always.
We wear them as a sign of mourning, but also when we want to say something.
We wear the bands in support of freedom, tolerance, inclusivity.
When we do, we are all captains, collectively.
Because we have to, if we think something shouldn’t happen or should be done differently.
Like now: 'Football Supports Change'.
Everywhere. Also in Qatar.
Qatar is where we'd like become world champions
But not without looking outside the box.
That's why we use our football for change. Together.
Because 'Football Supports Change'. 

‘Football Supports Change’ starts tonight and Denmark joins tomorrow before their match against Moldavia. Hopefully, other countries follow our movement soon.

KNVB statement

As early as 2010, the Royal Netherlands Football Association (KNVB) expressed its opposition to Qatar holding the World Cup. Conditions for migrant workers in the country are terrible, but a boycott is not the best response. Human rights organisations emphasise that a boycott would mean that migrant workers would lose their wages and recent progress in Qatar would come to a halt. In their view, it is better at this stage to go to Qatar and use the World Cup to exert diplomatic pressure on the authorities to pursue reforms. The KNVB has been doing this for some time and continues to alert both the government in Qatar and FIFA to the problems. Read the full KNVB statement on the World Cup in Qatar:

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