Sports gear manufacturer Hummel is drawing attention to human rights in Qatar with their new, muted 2022 World Cup kits for Denmark.
The all-red and all-black jerseys, unveiled on Wednesday, pay homage to the Danish Euro ’92 victory while protesting against Qatar’s alleged treatment of migrant workers who built the necessary infrastructure for the largest sporting event in the world.
“This shirt carries with it a message.
We don’t wish to be visible during a tournament that has cost thousands of people their lives.
We support the Danish national team all the way, but that isn’t the same as supporting Qatar as a host nation.”
Black, the color of mourning, was chosen to represent the thousands of lives lost by migrant workers in Qatar, according to Hummel.
The jersey brand promised to deliver kits “with a message” as early as last November, per ESPN.
“Though FIFA’s World Cup rules prohibit political statements on team uniform, the three Denmark shirt designs in all-red, all-white and all-black appear to comply with no words or symbols that are an explicit statement. The national team badge, Hummel logo and decorative white chevrons — a famous feature of the Denmark shirt since the 1980s — are faded into the same single color as the shirt.”
Qatar has received heavy criticism and accusations from human rights groups and watchdogs who claim thousands of migrant workers died working for the gas-rich host nation. Alleged Qatari obfuscation makes calculating the exact number of deaths difficult.
Last Wednesday, the English Football Association publicly called for Qatar to compensate families of the deceased migrant workers after Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and FairSquare asked for World Cup sponsors to pressure the host nation.
Qatari spokespersons deny all human rights violations allegations.
“We wholeheartedly reject the trivializing our genuine commitment to protect the health and safety of the 30,000 workers who built FIFA World Cup stadiums and other tournament projects…
[Our] work is recognized by numerous entities within the international human rights community as a model that has accelerated progress and improved lives.”
Featured Image: DALL-E Generated Image/FIFAWorldCup2022/DanishFootballAssociation/DM
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