Neville Southall made 92 appearances for Wales and presented current goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey with an award on his 100th cap in March 2022
Legendary Wales goalkeeper Neville Southall says Qatar are ‘ridiculous’ to host the 2022 World Cup.
The ex-Everton star says Russia’s example of bad human rights and history’s diversity proves his point.
Russia hosted the 2018 World Cup and then invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Southall says: “There’s a good argument that we can go there and try to change it,” adding: “Have we changed anything in Russia? Doesn’t look like it, really does it?”
Since retiring as one of Wales and Everton’s most iconic players, Southall has blossomed into an activist for a variety of social causes.
He believes there was a lack of transparency in the decision to award Qatar with sport’s biggest tournament and would like that to be addressed in the future.
Homosexual acts are illegal in Qatar.
Groups representing gay football fans have asked the Qatar government to do so “Ensuring Your Safety”.
Some Wales fans have announced they are boycotting the tournament despite their team’s qualifications.
World Cup organizers have responded that “everyone is welcome” but confirmed Qatar will not relax its laws on homosexuality during the event.
Qatar has also faced allegations from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch about the bad treatment of foreign workers who built the WM facilities.
“I think it’s going to be weird for the fans because I wouldn’t say it’s a football place, but someone somewhere made another ridiculous decision – shouldn’t have gone there, shouldn’t have gone to Russia,” said he Radio Wales Sport.
“And I think one of the big questions that comes out of the World Cup for me is the transparency of how you get a World Cup.
“Because you certainly should have good human rights; They should have good LGBT stuff; You should have a good record of racism; Your base should be pretty strong.”
He added, “If it were more transparent people would understand the criteria and it doesn’t look like there’s a lot of criteria at the moment.”
But while Southall is unequivocal in his condemnation of the global event heading to Qatar, he has urged Wales not to “fear” any of their opponents and be on course to win the tournament from the start.
“I think you just have to mind your own business. Rankings are nothing, you know what I mean?” he said.
“You can see that in heavyweight boxing. Someone can come out of nowhere and KO someone, so I just think you go there, you start your first game; as long as you don’t lose your first game, i think it’s fine.
“Are England beatable? Of course they are. Can America be beaten? Of course they are. Can Iran be beaten? Of course they are.
“Is there anyone you’d say, ‘ah, I’ll tell you what, we have no chance of beating them?’ no
“So why should we fear anyone? You have to go in there and say, ‘This is a golden opportunity for us, we have to go and try to win it’.
“Don’t think about anything else, just think about winning the tournament and that’s all you have to focus on. Don’t worry about anything else.
“And we have an ace that I don’t think anyone else has and that’s Gareth Bale.
“I know he might not be as sharp as he used to be but hopefully he’ll be fit to go there, he’ll be happy when he goes there and let’s see to win a world cup needs it he probably has three minutes of his time time.
“It’s not asking much of Gareth, it’s fair. You think about how long it takes to score a goal – for him he could easily get you into a World Cup final with the other players.”
“It will be nice if Aaron Ramsey also stays fit.
“I think they’re fed up with being at the European Championships, which will do them well for the World Cup.”
He added: “It’s good to see Wales at the World Cup, it’s great for Pagey [Wales manager Robert Page] and I think he has a good coaching staff around him.
“It’s not a fancy coaching team, but it’s a good, down-to-earth, good atmosphere. The lads all look like they love playing for Wales and I think their spirit carried them through several games.”
He also hopes that the country’s women will fulfill their ambition to compete in the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
“If you look at the women, the women seem to have the same vibe and cohesiveness, so I think it’s a good time for Welsh football,” said Southall.
“The World Cup is great. It would be fantastic if we could get a double there with the women.
“I think that would be fantastic. Women’s football is growing, men’s football is getting better – we probably have a lot more players in the Premier League now than we’ve had in a long time, so things are really looking up for Wales .
“So I think they should drop out of their group and then it’s everyone’s ball game, isn’t it?
“We probably have a squad good enough to go out there and do well.”
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