Norwegian football will vote on a boycott of the World Cup in Qatar on Sunday

At an extraordinary congress that will meet on Sunday, Norwegian football is expected to vote on a possible boycott of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

In this country, many clubs are alarmed about the conditions of migrant workers who work on Qatari sites intended to build infrastructures for the competition.

Will Haaland and his teammates play in the "graveyard" criticized by supporters?

Norwegian football votes on Sunday on a boycott of the 2022 World Cup demanded by part of its base, revolted by the conditions of migrant workers in Qatar.

The extraordinary congress called by the Norwegian Football Association (NFF) promises to be a thriller: Norway, as far as they qualify, could be the first country to forgo the World Cup next year (21 November 2022- December 18, 2022).

The country is far from guaranteed to be qualified

While only the first of each group qualifies automatically for the finals of the World Cup - the second having to go through play-offs - as regards the qualifiers in the Europe zone, Norway is currently at the fourth place in his group (G). Norway are tied on points with the Netherlands and Montenegro (with a poorer goal difference), these three selections being a long way behind Turkey, first in the group. The country is therefore far from being assured of participating in this World Cup, with or without a boycott.

Playing in Qatar, "is unfortunately playing in a cemetery," proclaims the spokesperson for the Norwegian Supporters Alliance (NSA), Ole Kristian Sandvik, using a metaphor used by many opponents.

It all started north of the Arctic Circle at the end of February with an appeal from Tromsø IL inviting the NFF to boycott this big round-ball meeting.

"We can no longer stand by and do nothing while people are dying in the name of football," said the first division club.

Inscriptions on Norwegian outfits before each meeting

The gas emirate is regularly under fire from criticism from NGOs for its treatment of foreign workers from Africa and Asia on sites linked to the World Cup. Doha claims to have done more than any other country in the region to improve their conditions. "There is no doubt that this World Cup should never have been attributed" to Qatar, explains to AFP one of the initiators of the boycott movement, Tom Høgli, a former pro who has become head of public relations for Tromsø IL . "The conditions there are appalling and many have died there," he argues.

In March, far from the heavy tolls mentioned by some media - British media

The Guardian 

had spoken of 6,500 deaths since the award of the competition to Qatar - a spokesperson for Qatari organizers estimated the death toll at "three". construction sites since 2014, 35 others having lost their lives outside their workplace, according to him. Nearly one in two Norwegians (49%) today say they are in favor of a boycott against 29% who oppose it, according to a poll published on Wednesday in the newspaper

VG

.

Before each game, superstar Erling Braut Haaland, captain Martin Ødegaard and the rest of the team don T-shirts with inscriptions such as "Human rights on and off the pitch".

A gesture imitated by other countries such as Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark.

Boycott could cost more than 20 million euros

If they also say they always regret the choice of the emirate to host the event, the governing bodies of the NFF are opposed to a boycott. "Not the right tool to improve the human rights situation or the working conditions in Qatar," said President Terje Svendsen. According to the federation, a boycott could cost Norwegian football 205 million crowns (more than 20 million euros) in the form of fines, compensation and loss of income.

Embarrassed, the NFF therefore returned the ball to an extraordinary congress which will bring together on Sunday the eight members of its executive committee and representatives of 18 districts and hundreds of professional and amateur clubs. The debates will be informed by the conclusions of a committee of experts which, with the exception of two supporters' representatives, also spoke out against a boycott. "For a boycott to be successful, you have to have a critical mass behind you, an opposition that calls for it in the country, the UN which puts pressure on the authorities, the business world, the unions, the society civilians who exert long-term pressure ", however, noted the chairman of the committee, Sven Mollekleiv. 

"Historically, there are few successes," he continued on TV2 Nyhetskanalen. Rather than a boycott, the committee therefore recommended 26 measures aimed at consolidating and extending the advances observed in Qatar but also at helping FIFA to guard against "sportswashing" (the laundering of a country's reputation with the of a major sporting event).