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| The final match of the Qatar FIFA World Cup was held in Doha on December 18, with Argentina and France battling for the World Cup title |
The Ukrainian president’s office criticized FIFA for refusing to broadcast a video message from President Zelensky ahead of Sunday’s World Cup final in Qatar. CNN reported that the office issued a written statement to CNN saying the video, recorded in English, was intended to “call for peace.”
“Qatar supported President (Zelensky’s) initiative, but FIFA blocked it and did not allow the president’s video speech to be broadcast before the final,” the statement from the Ukrainian president’s office said. ”
The Ukrainian president’s office also said that if FIFA does not broadcast President Zelensky’s video speech, it will independently distribute it; FIFA’s blocking speech from broadcasting would show that “FIFA no longer has a valuable understanding of football, which is that football is a sport that unites peoples and does not support existing divisions”.
CNN reported that CCN sent inquiries to FIFA but received no response. Qatar, for its part, did not comment publicly on Ukraine’s proposal to broadcast President Zelensky’s speech before the final.
CNN on Saturday obtained a copy of Zelensky’s pre-recorded video speech. Zelensky said in the video that the original purpose of football is to bring the world together. He called for “the World Cup, not the world war”. “The World Cup proves once again that different countries can decide who is the strongest through fair play rather than playing with fire, and on the green field rather than on the battlefield,” he said. ”
The Ukrainian president’s office told CNN that it was aware that FIFA believed that Zelensky’s message was too political, but that “the president’s call to give sports events a political color is not political, the appeal does not contain subjective evaluation and political information, and it does not contain accusations.” “FIFA should not be afraid to hear the language of peace when the world celebrates football, which represents peace.”