Kroos: 'It's wrong that the World Cup was awarded to Qatar'

Germany and Real Madid midfielder Toni Kroos has issued scathing criticism of 2022 World Cup host nation Qatar, speaking out about working conditions for migrant laborers and the persecution of homosexuals in the country.

"I think it's wrong that this tournament was awarded to Qatar," Kroos said on his podcast "Einfach mal Luppen," which he records weekly with his brother, Union Berlin player Felix Kroos.

"Many of the laborers are migrant workers from other countries and they work without breaks in up to 50 degree heat. They suffer under inadequate nutrition and lack of drinking water, which is madness in those temperatures," he claimed in response to a listener's question about the tournament.

"Their safety is not guaranteed at all, there is no medical care and there are also examples of violence against workers."

He then added: "Homosexuality is also illegal in Qatar and is persecuted. These are issues which are simply unacceptable, there can be no two ways of looking at it."

Calls to boycott the World Cup 

Kroos is currently out injured but his Germany teammates made headlines recently when they posed wearing t-shirts spelling out "Human Rights" ahead of their first World Cup qualifier against Iceland last week. A similar protest followed against Romania, while Norway, Denmark and Netherlands players have also spoken out.

After a recent report by British newspaper the Guardian revealed that an estimated 6,500 migrant workers have died on World Cup construction sites in Qatar since it was awarded hosting rights in 2010, calls have grown for countries to boycott the tournament.

Seven Norwegian clubs have urged their country's football association to boycott the tournament, backed by fourteen supporters' groups and the fan initiative Var Fotball (Our Football). The Norwegian FA will hold an extraordinary meeting on June 20 to discuss the issue, but German 2014 World Cup winner Kroos is not convinced that a boycott is the best way forward.

"What would a boycott achieve? Would it change the working conditions? I don't believe it would," he said. "These conditions don't just exist because the World Cup is taking place in Qatar, the situation is generally like that there, so boycotting the World Cup won't change anything."

Instead, Kroos believes that football can – and indeed "must" – use its reach to draw attention to the problems, "again and again, in the build-up to the tournament or maybe even during it, so that perhaps things will improve as a result."

The Qatari government insists that it has implemented reforms to improve conditions for migrant workers, while world football's governing body FIFA also claims progress has been made. Human rights organizations regularly contradict such claims.