World Cup chief warns Harry Kane that World Cup is no place for “political messages”

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The chief executive of the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy for the Qatar tournament, Nasser Al Khater, has fired a warning to Harry Kane over political statements at this winter’s World Cup.

We’re just over a month away now from the world’s biggest football tournament, and there have been plenty of critics of the host nation for their record on human rights, particularly regarding worker safety during the construction of stadia in the country, and LGBTQIA+ rights in the country.

Still, Al Khater insists everyone will be welcome in Qatar, and that the likes of Kane shouldn’t be marring the tournament with political statements.

“This is a sporting tournament that people want to come [to] and enjoy. Turning it into a platform of political statements, I don’t think is right for the sport.

“All we ask is for people to be respectful of the culture,” he added.

“At the end of the day, as long as you don’t do anything that harms other people, if you’re not destroying public property, as long as you’re behaving in a way that’s not harmful, then everybody’s welcome and you have nothing to worry about.”

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