Follow-up report: Club 2x11 - Tournament of Conflicts

As part of the project "Our Game for Human Rights", Club 2x11 addressed the question of what options individual fans and fan groups have with regard to the controversial FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar.

For more than an hour, Hanna Stepanik (project manager of "Our Game for Human Rights"), Nicole Selmer (editor-in-chief of "Ballesterer"), Marlene Mayer (filmmaker of "Our Football"), Sven Kistner (press spokesperson of the Queer Football Fans) and Richard Strebinger (ex-national team goalkeeper) answered the questions of Karoline Krauser-Sandner (journalist of "Der Kurier").

The various panellists were united above all by the assumptions that the 2022 FIFA World Cup is clearly different from the others and is per se political. "The myth of the apolitical is an obstacle to progress in sport in general, not just in football and in the supporters' terraces," said Nicole Selmer from Ballesterer.

The answers to the central question of the panel discussion - whether those present will watch the World Cup or boycott it - were diverse but can be divided into two camps. The majority of the panelists openly stated that they wanted to limit their media consumption, but did not want to give up watching the World Cup games altogether. Among them was Sven Kistner:

"I only watch individual games. Unlike the previous games, however, I will consume consciously." This opinion was echoed by Richard Strebinger, who, in contrast to the World Cups of previous years, will watch fewer live broadcasts.

"It would also be effective if the media boycotted. But that is unrealistic. But you could say you use commercial breaks to give human rights organisations a voice," was Strebinger's wish for the media's handling of the FIFA World Cup 2022.

However, some of those present also made it clear that they would boycott the World Cup. This opinion was also expressed by members of the Friedhofstribüne, who are themselves actively involved in the fan discourse:

"We are calling for a boycott and have decided not to watch a game. For us, the 2022 World Cup is the tip of the iceberg of a negative development of FIFFA. The more questionable the countries became, the less we watched."

In the end, no universal answer could be found to the question of how fans can deal with the World Cup in Qatar. "Football has an added value and it is a privilege to watch it like that. But if I don't use this luxury because people suffer for it, then I'm happy to do so," summed up one fan from the audience.