A new homophobic remark a few days before the start of the World Cup.

In an interview to be aired this Tuesday, November 8 in Germany, former international player Khalid Salman is asked about the concern expressed by some players about the treatment of the LGBT community, while more than a million visitors are expected in Qatar for the World Cup.

"They have to accept our rules," replied Khalid Salman, according to an excerpt from the interview recorded in Qatar, where same-sex relations are illegal.

"(Homosexuality) is haram," continues the 60-year-old former midfielder.

"I'm not a strict Muslim but why is it haram (unlawful)? Because it's mental deviance."

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The World Cup organizing committee declined to comment.

Fifa has not reacted yet.

Washington and Berlin condemn these remarks

In Washington, State Department spokesman Ned Price expressed the United States' "great concern" about the remarks and assured that the subject would be raised "directly" with the Qataris.

The German Interior Minister on Tuesday criticized the statements of a former Qatari player, "ambassador" of the Mondial-2022.

“Such statements are horrible,” Nancy Faeser lamented at a press conference in Berlin.

German international Leon Goretzka also denounced "absolutely unacceptable" remarks after the meeting with Bayern Munich in the German championship.

"It's a vision of man from another millennium," he added.

Nancy Faeser however affirmed that she remained confident in the security guarantees for the spectators of the Mondial-2022 obtained from the Qatari Prime Minister during a recent trip to the country.

"It was the Prime Minister who gave it to me, I have no new indications from him that anything has changed," the minister observed on Tuesday.

Protect LGBT+ rights

On a visit to Qatar last week, the minister assured that she had obtained "for the first time" "safety guarantees" for all spectators, including LGBT + visitors, in a country where sexual relations between people of the same sex are criminalized .

She had immediately decided to attend Germany's first match at the 2022 World Cup, against Japan on November 23.

The Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani assured on September 21 that all supporters would be welcomed "without discrimination" during the competition organized in his country, in an apparent desire to reassure about the reception of LGBT + visitors.

FIFA had reaffirmed for its part that rainbow flags, symbols of the LGBT + community, would be authorized around stadiums.

The captains of several European teams - including those of England, France and Germany - will wear rainbow colored armbands with the message 'One Love' as part of an anti-discrimination campaign.

With Reuters and AFP

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