Brazil will be focusedexclusivelyon the field during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the president of the Brazilian Football Federation (CBF) said on Sunday just before the start of the tournament, in the heart of many extra-portional controversies.

“We focus solely on what can happen on the ground. We respect all other goals and understand everyone’s opinionEdnaldo Rodrigues told several journalists before the first training session in Doha for the Seleçao, who arrived in Qatar on Saturday.

“We must respect the culture” of Qatar

“It’s a different country, you have to respect its culture. We respect all claims, but the CBF only wants to comment on football“, he said.

Since being appointed to host the event in 2010, Qatar has been the target of strong criticism, which grew stronger as the event approached, particularly over the rights of migrant workers or LGBTQ+ people. Several European teams, including Germany, England and Denmark, European runners-up 18 months ago, announced in September that their respective captains in Qatar would wear a colored stripe armband in favor of inclusion and against discrimination, as part of an initiative called “a love“.

But FIFA, which called on everyone to “focus on footballresponded by offering his own bracelets of consensual messages to try and short-circuit this project. World football boss Gianni Infantino scolded on Saturday “hypocrisyWestern criticism of the World Cup in Qatar, especially in the name of human rights, in which the “progressobtained in this field by FIFA.

Neymar’s Brazil, seeking a sixth World Cup title in Qatar, will begin their journey against Serbia on Thursday, in Group G that also includes Switzerland and Cameroon.