Qatar 2022: Norway rules out boycotting football world cup

 Delegates at extraordinary congress called by the Norwegian Football Federation vote for motion rejecting boycott of the event.

Norway’s football federation has ruled out boycotting the 2022 World Cup in Qatar despite pressure from its grassroots over accusations of human rights abuses of migrant workers in the Gulf state.

At an extraordinary congress called by the Norwegian Football Federation (NFF) on Sunday, 368 delegates voted for a motion rejecting a boycott while 121 were in favor.

In the run-up to the vote, Ole Kristian Sandvik, spokesman of the Norwegian Supporters Alliance (NSA), said the matches in Qatar will “unfortunately be like playing on a cemetery”, a term commonly used by opponents of Norway’s participation.

Norway has not qualified for a major international competition since Euro 2000 and is currently fourth in its World Cup qualifying group.

So although qualification seems an uphill task, the result of the vote could have had an impact on whether Norway continued to play qualifying matches.

The movement calling for a boycott began when the Tromso IL club spoke out in February.