The American fans support a possible boycott of the next World Cup in Qatar 2022, as revealed by a survey conducted by RunRepeat and taken up by Forbes, in which 6 out of 10 soccer fans in the United States agree that the United States National Team (USMNT), join the cause to prevent the next World Cup tournament from being played in Qatari territory.
The growing movement, initiated by some European teams, who demonstrated during the last FIFA Date due to the deaths of immigrant workers in the construction of the stadiums for the next World Cup, as well as various racist displays and the treatment of women or the LGBT + community, they have caused that the American fans turned in favor of a possible boycott in the survey carried out by the Danish company.
Of the 1,015 Americans surveyed, 599 (59%) are in favor of USMNT withdrawing from the World Cup qualifying round so as not to attend the tournament to be held at the end of next 2022, while 27% abstained and only 13% of those surveyed showed their dissatisfaction with the possible boycott against Qatar 2022.
Similarly, 60% of US fans surveyed were in favor when asked whether the World Cup should be withdrawn from Qatar and be played in another country, despite the multi-million dollar investment that has already been made and the progress of the works, just over a year from the most important soccer tournament in the world.
The person in charge of the survey carried out by RunRepeat, Danny McLoughlin, revealed some of the reasons that fans took into account to ask that USMNT join the movement against the holding of the next World Cup, among which The deaths of workers and human rights violations stand out.
“The Americans believe that FIFA should withdraw the Qatar tournament, but if it goes ahead as planned, they believe that US Soccer should boycott the World Cup.. There are a number of problems that lead fans to want to boycott the tournament in Qatar next year. 56% of those surveyed believe that US Soccer should join the boycott due to the treatment of workers, while 52% voted in favor when asked about women's rights and the LGBT + community, ”McLouhlin commented.
Latent boycott towards Qatar
The protests, after The Guardian published that at least 6,500 workers have died in works related to the next World Cup, they have grown in recent months and precisely the UEFA World Cup qualifying rounds were the main focus of them as selections such as Germany, Norway, Holland, Denmark, among others, showed their discontent through blankets or t-shirts, prior to their respective international duels.
Erling Haaland joined the protest with the Norwegian team on the last FIFA Date, in which they wore shirts with the legend “Human Rights, on and off the field”.
Great figures of world football clamored for respect for the human rights of migrant workers who are in the works of the next World Cup and even Amnesty International called on FIFA to end the abuse of workers.
Qatar 2022 is in the eye of the hurricane and the United States team will start its way to try to get a ticket, in the Concacaf qualifiers that will start next September and in which If all goes according to plan, it would be a likely return of the Stars and Stripes squad to a World Cup match.