- Title: I'm the wrong person to ask - Klopp on Qatar politics
- Date: 17th December 2019
- Summary: DOHA, QATAR (DECEMBER 17, 2019) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** NEWS CONFERENCE WITH LIVERPOOL MANAGER, JUERGEN KLOPP, IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) LIVERPOOL MANAGER, JUERGEN KLOPP, SAYING: "This is a really serious thing to talk about and I really think these answers should be given by people who know more about it, and know more about the influence. I think I kind of have to be influential in football, but in politics, other people have to be influential. Anything I say wouldn't help, it would just create another headline, positive or negative, who cares, so another headline, that is not how it should work. I like you ask the question, but I think I am the wrong person to answer it. Like all the other athletes are the wrong person to answer it. We arrived here, we were very welcomed. Everything is fine, everything organised like it should be, that is our situation here. Organising the competition, wherever it is in the world, FIFA did that so they have to think about these kind of things. Athletes shouldn't. We represent Europe, we represent Liverpool first and foremost, that is what we do, we are invited, qualified, so we go there. Sportsmen have to make the decision about if they are part of a competition, wherever it is in the world that is not right, these decisions have to be made beforehand." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) LIVERPOOL MANAGER, JUERGEN KLOPP, SAYING: "In the moment for us everything is fine. My personal opinion of course, about all these things, about homosexuality, I have an opinion about it, of course. I think we should all be treated equally, that is clear. But it is easy from another point to talk about these things, than being here and seeing these things and judging them then. We don't have the time for that, we are only here for training and a couple of days playing, and that is it." NEWS CONFERENCE PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) LIVERPOOL MANAGER, JUERGEN KLOPP, SAYING: "I don't think they can make the decision now, probably. But from my point of view that is not a question I don't like too much. You are here as well, you could tell the people as well, your experience. My opinion is not more important than yours. I don't think anybody has to be concerned to come here, if you do the normal stuff. Like you always do, you come to a specific country, you can do somethings, and some not. We have to respect the rules of different countries. I have to respect the rules of England when I live there, if it is only a cultural thing, that's how it is." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) LIVERPOOL MANAGER, JUERGEN KLOPP, SAYING: "If you would ask me beforehand if I think there should be a Club World Cup in the middle of our season, I would say no, that is my honest opinion. But that we speak about it constantly about these kind of fixtures. The importance is easy, we are here and so it is the most important competition in the world for us at this moment. So here we are and we will try and do that. So it is all about planning. Can it be even bigger tournament in the future? I don't know. As long as the leagues end and start at different moments, and if we try to push it in between league competitions that is just a problem. I think FIFA plans a team world cup in the summer but it is in a summer where the African Cup is, as well, and where there is other competitions as well that doesn't work out. They all need to sit together at a table and have to make sure we have great competitions, but not at the same time, that is all," WHITE FLASH (SOUNDBITE) (English) LIVERPOOL MANAGER, JUERGEN KLOPP, SAYING: "From the organisation point of view, everyone needs to think about it. The FIFA cannot plan a tournament in the summer and UEFA says 'Okay we play one as well in the same moment'. And then the South American Confederation says sorry our tournament is more important, it is not so easy. You need to find a common language and talk about it." WHITE FLASH (SOUNDBITE) (English) LIVERPOOL MANAGER, JUERGEN KLOPP, SAYING "You cannot just add on tournaments, that doesn't work. I have said that often enough, and FIFA probably doesn't like I say it, sorry. But, you asked me about my opinion and at least in football my opinion makes sometimes kind of sense because I think all day about football." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) LIVERPOOL MANAGER, JUERGEN KLOPP, SAYING: "We play Monterrey tomorrow night we have all the information we can get. We will be prepared and try to win football games. We don't see ourselves as favourites or whatever, we see ourselves as a challenger. It will be the first time for the club to win the Club World Cup. Is it the most important competition in the world? I don't know, there are winners from all different competitions in the continents. So in Europe everyone thinks the Champions League is the biggest competition, and ask the guys who play in the CONCACAF, ask players in Asia or wherever, ask them. In Brazil, Flamengo celebrated the Copa Libertadores pretty intensely. We are here to represent Liverpool and Europe that's all that we do, and we try and do that in the best way like we do always." NEWS CONFERENCE ENDS
- Embargoed: 31st December 2019 16:51
- Keywords: Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp Monterrey World Club Cup semi-final
- Location: DOHA, QATAR
- City: DOHA, QATAR
- Country: Qatar
- Topics: Soccer,Sport
- Reuters ID: LVA001BAD7A67
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp, in Qatar for the Club World Cup, said that it is wrong that managers and players are asked to comment on the suitability of a country for hosting global tournaments.
The European champions will play Mexico's Monterrey at the Khalifa International Stadium on Wednesday (December 17) in the semi-final of the FIFA tournament which concludes on Saturday (December 21).
Asked at a news conference about whether it was right to play in a country where rights for homosexuals are restricted, Klopp said that was for others to address.
Qatar will host the World Cup in 2022 when fans from 32 nations will flock to the gulf state for a month of football action.
As in a number of majority Muslim countries, homosexual acts are strictly prohibited in Qatar although the law is rarely enforced.
During the preparations for the competition, Qatari officials had met with Liverpool supporters groups, including the LGBT group 'Kop Outs!' to discuss their concerns about attending the tournament.
Liverpool chief executive Peter Moore said the club were given assurances by Qatari authorities that their LGBT supporters would be welcomed in the Gulf state.
Klopp said decisions on where to host events were not matters for sportspeople themselves but the administrators.
Meanwhile Klopp said the football authorities need speak to each other before introducing more competitions, including the expansion of the Club World Cup from 2021 onwards.
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