Boycott Qatar? A View from Germany

In this one - and only - World Cup-based episode, Stefan Schirmer, co-founder of the fan-run German initiative boycott-qatar and fan of Mainz 05 explains why the resistance to this year’s cup is so organized and so strong in Europe, particularly in Germany. How have fans organized? How do they view the engagement of the World Cup by the rest of the world? What do they mean by “boycott”? And what is their positive vision for the future of FIFA and the beautiful game, going forward?I would enjoy your comments and questions via The Assistant Professor of Football on twitter.  Also: I would like to keep this space free of ads and paywalls. If you enjoy this podcast and think that what I do fills a gap in soccer coverage that others would be interested in as well, pleaseRecommend The Assistant Professor of Football. Spreading the word, through word of mouth, truly does help. If you could leave some rating stars at the podcast platform of your choice, that would be particularly helpful. There are so many sports podcasts out there, and only ratings make this project visible; only then can people who look for a different kind of take on European soccer actually find me.HELPFUL LINKS for this episode:Boycott Qatar (in English)A chronicle of controversies surrounding this World Cup (wikipedia)Report on Stefan’s initiative in EuronewsVICE, “The Football Fans Boycotting the World Cup”Montclair State University study on the human rights situation surrounding the World CupHuman Rights Watch on the WC in QatarNEW: send me a text message! (I'd love to hear your thoughts - texts get to me anonymously, without charge or signup) Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook. If you enjoy this podcast and think that what I do fills a gap in soccer coverage that others would be interested in as well, pleaseRecommend The Assistant Professor of Football. Spreading the word, through word of mouth, truly does help. Leave some rating stars at the podcast platform of your choice. There are so many sports podcasts out there, and only ratings make this project visible; only then can people who look for a different kind of take on European soccer actually find me.Artwork for The Assistant Professor of Football is by Saige LindInstrumental music for this podcast, including the introduction track, is by the artist Ketsa and used under a Creative Commons license through Free Music Archive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Ketsa/