Germany football captain regrets team’s ‘very political’ stance at Qatar World Cup

Joshua Kimmich, captain of Germany’s men’s national football team, has said he and his teammates shouldn’t have expressed themselves in such a “political way” during the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

“I think we as a team and we as Germany did not present a very good image overall,” the footballer said at a national team press conference on Wednesday. 

Kimmich, who took over as captain of the national team in September, was asked how the German team would respond to current and upcoming political issues surrounding football, with Donald Trump set to host the next World Cup as president of the United States in 2026, and Saudi Arabia — known for its oppression of women, dissidents and LGBTQ+ people — likely to host the World Cup in 2034.

“In general, we players should stand for certain values, especially me as the captain of the national team. But on the other hand, most of the time it is not our job to express ourselves politically. We have experts in our country for that,” Kimmich said.

The footballer then referred to the case of the Qatar World Cup, where German players had wanted to wear pro-LGBTQ+ armbands, but because FIFA banned their use the footballers covered their mouths during the team photo before their World Cup opener against Japan.

Qatar was a controversial choice to host the World Cup for many reasons, among them the fact the country forbids same-sex relationships.

“We tried to express ourselves in a very political way, and that took a little bit of the joy out of the tournament,” Kimmich recalled, adding that the German team hadn’t been playing well at the time, and that the political episode made the memory more sour than it otherwise would have been.

“Apart from our sporting achievements, it was an outstanding World Cup in terms of organization and circumstances. Excellent training facilities, wonderful stadiums,” he said.

Men’s football leagues in much of Europe are trying to make LGBTQ+ people feel more welcome at games and in football in general. Very few professional male players have come out as gay, due largely to the abuse they could expect to receive from fans.

By contrast, numerous players at the top level of the women’s game are openly LGBTQ+, including several members of the German women’s national team. Around 100 of the approximately 736 players at the last women’s World Cup, held in Australia and New Zealand in 2023, were openly LGBTQ+.

“I have the feeling that in Germany, or even in Western countries, we hold views that we think are universal and should apply everywhere. But as a country we feel that we have our own problems, our own construction sites. So maybe it is good to concentrate on that,” Kimmich said.

“I think we have not done everything right in the past: As a player you want to stand for values that are non-negotiable. But on the other hand, we have people who should be dealing with politics, and they are the experts. I am not an expert in politics.”

Kimmich also said during the conference that Germany’s national team “has the opportunity to bring joy to people, even if not everything is going well politically.”