QNA

 

Former Italian midfielder Gennaro Gattuso joined the chorus of footballers backing the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, saying not a single criticism levelled against the country had any merit.

He was speaking on the sidelines of the recently-concluded Aspire Global Summit in Paris which was attended by dozens of experts and football leaders from all over the world.

Gattuso said he was at pains to figure out what exactly the problem with Qatar hosting the World Cup was, adding that FIFA could easily address the “heat” issue by holding the event in the winter of 2022.  

The former AC Milan player said that Qatar had proved several times in the past that it could host world-class events. He highlighted the Aspire Global Summit as a fine example of  Qatar’s capabilities.  

On the media campaigns against the Qatari World Cup bid, Gattuso said that some of the journalists were surprised because of the country’s size and small population. He dismissed such a viewpoint, saying that Qatar stood out from all competing countries due to its strong investment in football, which reflected the state’s keenness to promote the sport.  

On his dream to manage the Italian national team at the 2022 World Cup, Gattuso said that he entered the world of coaching two years ago and would need a lot of time to entrench
himself in the management field.

Earlier, former Argentine international and current president of Argentine first division club Estudiantes de La Plata Juan Sebastian Veron had spoken of Qatar’s chance to make history by hosting the FIFA World Cup in 2022.

He urged  Qataris to invest all their energies on preparing for the World Cup as it required a tremendous amount of effort.

Veron, who participated in the Aspire summit, stressed that Qatar should not be bothered about the summer vs winter debate that has been going on ever since the country was awarded the World Cup.

According to him players are professionals and they should be able to adapt to different weather conditions around the world.

“The current debate over the World Cup timing concerns fans, not the players,” he said.

“The players have enough experience to tackle all kinds of weather conditions.”

 

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