Josh Cavallo: LGBTQ safety should be considered by FIFA when awarding World Cup hosting rights

Josh Cavallo, Australia's first active male professional footballer to come out as gay, said a country's stance on LGBTQ rights should be considered before awarding hosting rights for a major sporting event.

Cavallo has yet to receive a call-up to Australia's senior squad but has previously said he would be "scared" to play at the World Cup in Qatar, where gay sex is a criminal offence.

The 2018 edition of football's showpiece event was held in Russia, where a "gay propaganda" law, passed in 2013, has been used to stop gay pride marches and detain gay rights activists.

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"I vow to stand up for the LGBTQ athletes and the fans at the World Cup in Qatar, who can't live openly, authentically. Qatar, FIFA, the world is watching," Cavallo said. "Do you see us?

"I urge sport leaders to consider our rights, our safety while choosing host countries for World Cups and other competitions. We must do better. I take this honour and duty and promise to rise to that challenge."

Nasser Al Khater, the chief executive of the 2022 World Cup, has said LGBTQ+ fans coming into the country would not have to worry about "persecution of any sort", and described Qatar as a "tolerant country".

WC chief: LGBTQ+ fans can hold hands for hours in Qatar, nobody will say anything

Qatar's World Cup chief has told the English and Welsh FAs to focus on their teams rather than demanding compensation for migrant workers.

In a wide-ranging interview in the capital, Doha, Mr Al Khater also told Sky News that enduring criticism of the tournament could be considered racist.

He also said that:

• Gay fans will be welcome to display affection and rainbow flags;
• FIFA will have to decide on captains wearing "One Love" armbands while cautioning against "political messages" by teams;
• Special areas will be created for drunken supporters to sober up;
• 95 per cent of tickets have been sold

The Middle East's first World Cup opens on November 19 - the culmination of a 12-year journey since Qatar won a widely-tainted FIFA vote.

In that time, Mr Al Khater has risen to chief executive of the supreme committee overseeing Qatar's planning and been in the firing line of criticism.

A group of European nations - including England and Wales - have spent the World Cup build-up highlighting concerns about the suffering of migrant workers and claimed inadequacies in Qatar's compensation funding.

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Mr Al Khater told Sky News: "A lot of people that speak about this issue on workers' welfare … are not experts in the industry. And they're not experts in what they're speaking about.

"And I feel that they feel obliged, that they need to speak. I think they need to really read and educate themselves a little bit more about what's happening on the ground in Qatar."

Be respectful of the culture

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A UEFA working group on labour rights in Qatar held talks at FIFA HQ in Switzerland on Wednesday.

"So when people come out and say, 'Yes, we agree that there needs to be some sort of compensation fund'," Mr Al Khater said. "They're just reading off a piece of paper.

"So let's leave that to the experts … and let us focus on football. Let the football administrators focus on their teams. And let's just leave it at that."

While World Cup organisers insist there have only been three work-related deaths at stadiums, concerns linger that more migrant workers died on wider infrastructure work across Qatar as every fatality is not fully investigated.

Mr Al Khater pointed to Qatar improving labour laws and the introduction of a minimum wage.

But Qatar is not prepared to change anti-LGBTQ+ laws to respond to concerns of visiting fans, while insisting none will be discriminated against during the 29-day tournament and that gay fans can hold hands.

"All we ask is for people to be respectful of the culture," Mr Al Khater said. "At the end of the day, as long as you don't do anything that harms other people, if you're not destroying public property, as long as you're behaving in a way that's not harmful, then everybody's welcome and you have nothing to worry about."

He added: "Everybody is welcome here and everyone will feel safe when they come to Qatar."

Pressed on if that includes LGBTQ+ fans, for example, holding hands in public, Mr Al Khater added: "Yes. If I held your hand now, and I walked out into the street for hours and hours and hours nobody would say anything to us."

While Mr Al Khater has said fans can display rainbow flags, he said "it's a FIFA matter" whether approval is given for England captain Harry Kane and Wales counterpart Gareth Bale to wear multicoloured "One Love" armbands that highlight discrimination.

95 per cent of tickets have been sold

"From what I understand, there are discussions taking place about the different political messages that are going to be," Mr Al Khater said.

He added: "This is a sporting tournament that people want to come [to] and enjoy. Turning it into a platform of political statements I don't think is right for the sport."

Fans will be attending matches in eight new stadiums built around Doha. Accommodation remains available through organisers but 95 per cent of tickets have been sold, Mr Al Khater said.

To host the World Cup, Qatar has had to open up more areas for the sale of alcohol - including outside stadiums and in fan zones - rather than it remaining restricted to hotel bars.

Mass gatherings of boisterous, drunken supporters is unfamiliar territory for the first Muslim nation to host a World Cup.

Mr Al Khater said: "There are plans in place for people to sober up if they've been drinking excessively.

"It's a place to make sure that they keep themselves safe, they're not harmful to anybody else."

Mr Al Khater sidestepped ongoing concerns about whether vote-buying secured the World Cup hosting rights in the vote in 2010 - feeling Qatar has been unfairly targeted generally.

"We've taken the challenge upon ourselves and we've risen to that challenge," he said.

Asked if he felt criticism was racist, he responded: "I'm not going to get into what the intentions are of other people, I'm not going to get into the minds and souls of other people.

"But you know, who knows, possibly."