Qatar World Cup chief calls BBC coverage of tournament ‘racist’

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Qatar’s World Cup chief Hassan Al-Thawadi has accused BBC pundit Jurgen Klinsmann of making ‘racist’ remarks during a post-match analysis of the Wales vs Wales match. ‘Iran.

Klinsmann appeared on the BBC to discuss the game which took place on Friday November 25 and saw Iran beat Wales 2-0 in Qatar.

Wales manager Rob Page said afterwards that the match was “not a true reflection of this team”, but German football manager and former player Klinsmann claimed Iran had “worked with the referee” during the match.

Klinsmann shared his thoughts after Wales’ loss to Iran. Credit: Peter Schatz / Alamy Stock Photo

He commented, “It’s not [a] coincidence, it’s part of their culture, their way of playing. They worked the referee. They work the linesman and the fourth official, they are constantly on their ears.

“There were a lot of incidents that we didn’t see. It’s their culture, they take you out of your game.”

Al-Thawadi slammed the Klinsmann for his comments during an interview with talkSport, arguing: “Iran v Wales game. Iran played very well. They were the best team.

And yet the coverage we saw on the BBC by Jurgen Klinsmann talking about their culture and reflecting the players in such a way that I don’t like to use the word I’ll only use it once because I don’t want to give power to the word, he was very elitist, orientalist and racist to some degree.”

Hassan Al-Thawadi said Klinsmann’s comments were racist. Credit: REUTERS / Alamy Stock Photo

The World Cup chief continued: I’ll put it this way: you look at what’s going on and you say it’s part of their culture, what do you mean by that? Are you saying it was misunderstood? He represented a culture in a negative way.

Klinsmann also faced calls from Iran and manager Carlos Queiroz to resign over his remarks, after which Klinsmann sought to clarify what he said and claimed the comments were “taken out. of their context”.

Carlos Queiroz also criticized Klinsmann for his comments. Credit: @Carlos_Queiroz/Twitter

“I will try to give [Queiroz] a call and calm things down,” Klinsmann said, adding, “I never criticized Carlos or the Iranian bench. Some even thought I was criticizing the referee for not doing anything about how they behaved on the bench.

All I’ve described is their emotional way of doing things, which is actually admirable in a way. The whole bench saw the match. They jump up and down and Carlos is a very emotional coach, he is constantly on the sidelines trying to give his players all his energy and direction.

Klinsmann’s attempt to clarify the matter came after the Iranian Football Federation demanded an apology from Klinsmann and “resignation as a member of FIFA’s technical study group”.

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