England captain Harry Kane has asserted that players were not the ones who made the decision to host the 2022 World Cup in Qatar although he admitted that it has shone a light on important issues that need to be addressed. FIFA has been criticized for allowing Qatar to host the prestige competition.

FIFA faced severe backlash and scrutiny when they announced that Qatar had won the bid to host the World Cup for the year 2022. The country’s spotty human rights violation record alongside several other issues made it hard for fans to fully embrace the prestigious tournament. 

There has been concern from FIFA that many supporters will not participate by not attending the tournament. Several teams and federations have criticized FIFA for its handling of several situations, especially the nonhumane treatment of its migrant workers. 

England manager Gareth Southgate spoke to his players on Tuesday to address the various controversies that surround the tournament including the host country’s poor human rights record and backward stance towards the LGBTQ+ community.

 English skipper Harry Kane revealed that he plans to speak with other national team captains to organize a unified approach to highlighting human rights issues ahead of the competition in the winter.

“As players we didn’t choose where this World Cup was going to be. But what it has done is it has shone a light on important issues which might not have come to light if the World Cup wasn’t there. We have to try to help as much as possible to understand the issues and the situations.” Kane told ESPN.

“What my hope is that having the World Cup there and having this light on the country will help try and progress some of the issues which have been going on for a long time.[I will be] talking to other national team captains to see whether we can be unified in what we try and do and approach it. That’s something myself and some of the senior players in the team will look to try to achieve over the coming months,” he added.