Pressure on French football. A group of associations and personalities have called on the France team and national authorities to denounce the violations of the rights of LGBT + people committed by the authorities of Qatar, host country of the 2022 Football World Cup. “Federation, leaders, players and referees of French football, you have the power to be heard by millions of people (…). We ask that you take a public stand in defense of these fundamental rights.” write the associations, including SOS Homophobia, the LGBTI+ Federation, several regional LGBT centers and Amnesty International France, in a column published Wednesday, November 9 on the site of West France. Qatar “persecutes, imprisons and tortures LGBT+ people, depriving them of their most basic rights” continues the text, which denounces the silence of the French Football Federation, the big clubs and the players of the France team.