Qatari Federation Addresses Incident of New Zealand Exit: Official Statement Released

The Qatar Football Association released an official truth-clarifying statement today, Tuesday, about what happened during the first half of the friendly match against New Zealand, who refused to complete it in Austria yesterday, Monday.

The Qatar federation said in a statement that it contacted Youssef and confirmed that she had exchanged words with the New Zealand player without any insults or racist language. On the contrary, Yousef was subjected to racist acts by the New Zealand players during the first half.

The statement indicated that the Qatar Federation would take the incident seriously to counter racism in all its forms, and the Federation also called on the international football community to do more to combat racism and discrimination in and out of stadiums.

Notably, the New Zealand national team refused to finish the second half of the match after one of its players got into a skirmish with Qatar international Youssef Abdul-Razzak Youssef, to which New Zealand captain Joey Bell said that one of his colleagues was subjected to “racist insults “.

The Qatar national team is gearing up for the 2023 Gold Cup Final for North and Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF) to be held in the United States from June 24 to July 16, which is the second time in a row that Al-Annabi has been reported to be taking part in this tournament as a guest.

Source: “Twitter/QFA”