RIYADH – Several senior Arab sports figures have sought urgent intervention of FIFA against Qatar’s beIN Sport channels for blatant politicization of sports after the opening of the World Cup matches in Russia. They called on FIFA to take penal action against beIN Sport, for committing systematic violation of the regulations pertaining to its monopoly to air the World Cup matches in the Middle East and North Africa.

The sports figures, including players, commentators and referees took a legal initiative to send letters of protest to the FIFA secretary general against the Qatari channels after their broadcasters, commentators and analysts are found involved in deliberately including political comments in sports programs and analytical live coverage from their studios during the course of the matches.

The organizers of the initiative, with the motto of “Sports without politics” urged all the football fans to participate in the initiative by registering their protests prior to forwarding them to the FIFA secretary general. The protest registration can be made after visiting the prescribed site (http://www.sports4everyone.org).

The sports figures also cautioned that the silence on the part of FIFA toward the excesses of the Qatari channels would contribute to eroding the global body’s credibility and is a violation of its principles in addition to opening doors of politicization of sports in a significant way. — SG