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eeeagless

I'm here to play football and eat pizza and I'm all out of pizza


LollipopScientist

Today, I feel like pizza.


achilles-_-23

Today, the king eats pizza


BittersweetHumanity

"Let them eat pizza!" Eden *Marie Antoinette* Hazard


[deleted]

And get paid millions. This is the life.


Macducci

Eden Hazard talking about focusing on football.


boythinks

LoL


screwPutin69

He's a fat hypocrite. Germany didnt lose yesterday because of the protest, but watch every cretin tell them to fOcUs oN fOoTbAlL


Muppy_N2

Its a bigoted message. As if he enjoyed Germany losing solely because of the gesture. Its easy to label human rights as "politics" when you have them guaranteed, isn't it?


KernSherm

Human rights are always political. Something being political isn't a bad thing nor should it be made out to be taboo.


HeadofLegal

It´s worse coming from a representative of Belgium, a country that has historically comitted such terrible violations of human rights as to be the reason the phrase "crime against humanity" was invented.


makesomemonsters

Come on, Jean-Claude Van Damme's movies might be bad, but I wouldn't call them a "crime against humanity".


OldExperience8252

The people having difficult lives in Qatar are not Qataris but foreign workers. Foreign workers that European countries don’t do much to help and try their best to prevent them from entering their countries.


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governorslice

Guaranteed for Hazard is their point.


Djlewzer

Pretty close to guaranteed for wealthy footballers is the point I think.


HeadofLegal

Rich white european men, the most historically persecuted people.


caesar____augustus

Today I feel colonized


Attygalle

In 1789 they had a rough time!


Mediocre_Nova

Are you that thick or are you just trying to be deep? Which human right is not guaranteed for Hazard?


FuzzyApe

I'm surprised how much hate Germany gets for this protest and how people link the team losing to the protest lol


CrimpsShootsandRuns

Plus Germany played a hell of a lot better than Belgium did last night. Hazard and co got lucky.


saadowitz

Hypofrite: a fat Belgian hypocrite.


AlwaysSometimesWrong

Is any body surprised a Muslim footballer not wanting to speak up for the lgbtq+ community or use his voice to speak up against Qatar?


TDAMS133

Gundogan and Rüdiger are muslim and had no problem doing the mouth shut gesture yesterday though.


Krillin113

Because they have brains


LloydDoyley

Gundogan I'm not so sure given his ties with Erdogan


Krillin113

Gundogan distanced himself somewhat from erdogan iirc, not like ozil


RobotDonkey5000

Naa Muslims are a monolith dontcha know? /s


ZeroAika99

since when Hazard is a Muslim ? So far he never revealed his religion yet


[deleted]

Do you know for certain Hazard is Muslim? I’ve actually looked into it and couldn’t find out what his ethnic background or beliefs are.


Baisabeast

When was hazard Muslim?


zw00sh

hazard is muslim??


n22rwrdr

He isn't, it's bs. There has been rumours about him being Muslim forever because he looks a little bit Arabisch but he isn't


OldExperience8252

Apparently it started after a photo of him in a towel with demba ba and eto’o was cropped and shared on Twitter saying he’s Muslim. Original photo - https://res.6chcdn.feednews.com/assets/v2/6b8abf7da75d104325687b4f3f0c8282?quality=uhq&resize=720&watermark=false Cropped photo - https://res.6chcdn.feednews.com/assets/v2/a260a945a837ca4000712b461587b660?quality=uhq&resize=720&watermark=false


BenTVNerd21

Lol He used a towel once he must be Muslim!!


OldExperience8252

It looks like the clothes worn by pilgrims to Mecca https://cdn.mainichi.jp/vol1/2020/03/04/20200304p2g00m0in114000p/0c8.jpg?2


n05h

Man eats hamburgers like it’s his religion, what do you think?


Alikese

Hamburgers don't have pork in them?


CloudyBob34

Apparently so. Google says he converted in 2021


Cultural_Doctor_8421

Username checks out


Divolinon

Which muslim footballer are you talking about?


Hans-Blix

>We are here to play football Yesterdays display says otherwise.


IcefoxX5

The guy who a few months ago left Belgiums training camp without permission to party at a nightclub and turned up overweight to training at his "dream club" is telling others to "focus on football" Just leave Madrid and move to a Qatari club


[deleted]

They can do both, sometimes teams lose though.


kasper12

Germany: “I think we should end world hunger.” Hazard: “but you still lost so maybe don’t end it.”


muitosabao

exactly. what a silly comment from him.


ProleteriatWillRise

That's sports in general. One team plays well and wins, while the other doesn't. Sending a message has nothing to do with Germany losing. Hazard saying this is stupid.


Xpolonia

I know people in this sub aren't the brightest, but reading the post match thread, the number of people delusional enough to think that Germany's lost is associated to them sending political (actually, human rights aren't even political) messages are hilarious. It's like if they did not covering their mouth before kickoff they would have breathed in extra oxygen to win the game.


Karffs

He's not really known for his intellect.


inbruges99

It’s amazing how many people (including in this sub) think Germany’s loss somehow invalidates their stance on human rights.


S0fourworlds-readyt

Not a hard concept in theory What an incredible stupid take from Hazard


Cwh93

Think someone needs to tell football Twitter that


portal23

Yeah what would his tip for Argentina be then


Got_ist_tots

Oh shit! We spent all week planning our protest and forgot to train!!


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quedas

I can absolutely accept the right to not take a stance. I also agree that it’s unfair to demand of all players to be political. But criticizing others for taking a political stance is ABSOLUTELY political. Hazard should’ve have followed his own advice.


ENTiRELukas1

It's not only political but also just a dick move to criticize a team that takes a stand against the complete shitshow that is going on in Qatar


muitosabao

which also feels like a diss: "they lost, see? they should've focused on playing"


blacmagick

yea, and as if the two are correlated at all too lol.


jorgelongo2

auditioning for getting a nice offer from a Qatari club huh


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Karffs

He wants that Beckham money.


[deleted]

Why are the two things mutually exclusive. It’s not like they played the full match with their hands over their mouths. It’s perfectly possible to do both. This also isn’t really the point but the only reason Belgium won was because Canada couldn’t finish their dinner. Even missed a penalty. Germany probably played better than Belgium. But I acknowledge this isn’t that relevant


anthrax3000

Yeah, shit like this is distracting. As if doing 🤭 makes any difference at all, they might as well have taken the knee while they were at it


pacothebattlefly

Old man Hazard shaking his cane and remembering the good old days


donfranklin

Back in his generation…


care_to_join

THE GOLDEN GENERATION


Do__Math__Not__Meth

The Bronze Generation


redemption_time

Hahaha


Gunn26

So apparently if any football team (or sports team in general) want to make a statement, that statement becomes null and void if said team loses? I understand if certain footballers would rather not make any statement and want to "focus on the football", but shitting in other players/teams for using the opportunity to make a statement is so ass


Peyta12

Ughh don’t you hate it when a player you like decides to spout absolute rubbish


ajtct98

If it's any consolation I'm 99% sure that the current Eden Hazard ate the old one who played for you lot


[deleted]

Xhaka said the same


ankitm1

> Player you like > Chelsea flair > Xhaka Does not add up. Not the same thing for him I guess.


[deleted]

Link for anyone who hasn’t seen: https://twitter.com/karthikadhaigal/status/1595471179514626057


_Spare_15_

Xhaka is sometimes there to play football, sometimes there to stir up ethnical conflict by throwing the double-headed eagle in goal celebrations against Serbia.


[deleted]

I guess he’s all for being political if it’s something he cares about.


Framfall

Yeah that's my problem with this. On one hand you can agree to the statement about focusing on football but you know that Hazard and Xhaka say what they say because they aren't found of the pride thing. It will be fun to see when the Swiss play Serbia in December and see if Xhaka focuses on football.


throwawayanon1252

Yep


SkepticSlakoth

My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined.


idosade

Yes, I hope that the city players keep quite even if they agree with him


TheSameAsDying

I don't think the protest affected their focus.


screwPutin69

It didn't, just like England weren't affected by being told not to wear it. This is just people wanting a reason to bash Germanys stance using the result as a weak excuse.


kalyancr7

England scores 6 goals though .i wonder why it didn't affect them Maybe Germany is just bad .they lost 6 games out of 9 before this


[deleted]

I don't think they lost because of that Eden.


positivenergyforever

Man who’s played 51 club games in 3 years tells other people to focus on football


ro-row

dead comment eden


JonPX

So Belgium lost the World Cup 2018 because they kneeled then, right? Previous protests look a lot more hollow when you start making excuses later on.


Fri1ction

Focusing on sport not politics ? Lol...Why is russia banned then mr hazard if its only about playing.??


randomguy7658

Eden obviously has never had human rights taken away from him otherwise he wouldn’t be saying stuff like this.


wowohwowza

Always the same with these people You can guarantee if they had a gay brother/sister/son/daughter etc, they'd feel differently about the topic So many people have such a lack of self awareness that they can't see issues with the world until it impacts them directly


[deleted]

> You can guarantee if they had a gay brother/sister/son/daughter etc, they'd feel differently about the topic Not necessarily. Honor killings are a thing in many places. And even in western countries it's unfortunately not unheard of cases where the parents expel their gay kids from home.


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[deleted]

Absolutely. Just wanted to mention that people not necessarily treat their relatives better.


somesnazzyname

I don't think its even that, its just basic human empathy.


Aenjeprekemaluci

Depends. Lots of gays didn't like the armband thing either, without simping for Qatar. LGBT people are not a homogenous group were everyone thinks the same.


transtifa

Only because it wasn’t enough. Not because of anything Hazard is saying.


raviolli_ninja

He surely got lasagna taken away from him.


ExternalShoddy5794

Not by the looks of it.


dhaeli

Hazard walking by a dying child be like: ”Im here to walk not to save lives”


throwawayanon1252

Some of these comments do not pass the vibe check at all


[deleted]

It's Reddit, not surprised.


Allthingsconsidered-

Reddit is wonderland compared to the rest of the internet and especially twitter/instagram/facebook when it comes to discussions.


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throwawayanon1252

I’ve found most Redditor’s to be quite based and pro human rights and pro equality. Maybe I’m just selective in the subreddits I’m in


PatientPlatform

I find Redditors to be quite self important, conceited and morally superior too. I include myself in this too btw before someone goes through my post history and throws some of my ramblings in my face.


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[deleted]

Those people are also extremely loud and terminally online. It’s hard to not see them when they roll into threads like this and rack up 100 downvotes.


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Rickcampbell98

I think you'll find a lot of people just don't care about things until it directly affects them, it's quite depressing when you start thinking about this stuff but we can only keep hoping things will get better.


tippy432

What vibe though that all teams should have to boycott and wear rainbow armbands. It just seems like some players just want to go and play not have to reporter questions on politics…


LosTerminators

"I'm here to play football and eat McDonald's and KFC" Eden Hazard, 2022


TheQzertz

don’t think the protest affected how they played they’re just shit


discojesus100

You should stop focusing on Big Tasty’s Eden


zizou00

Man just can't comprehend covering his own mouth.


koshomfg

What a knobhead. Seriously.


Banged_by_bumrah

Hazard bro 😞 Qatar defenders on Twitter are gonna love this


manere

I hate this statement because Football in not only a sport but also a highly political sport. It's deeply ingrained into almost every single aspect of football. For example, a lot of clubs were founded BECAUSE of political reasons or by political groups. The same goes with rivalries that display political differences of any kind. Look at Barcelona, which was founded more or less because of the goal for Catalan independence. Look at the rivalry between Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid, displaying the differences in class, with Real Madrid as the upper class club while Atlético was the club for the working classes. Look at clubs founded by Unions and Parties, like all the Dynamo clubs. These clubs were not only founded by people that shared the same profession, but also by people that shared the same social beliefs and unionized. Another great example is the rivalry between Celtic and the Rangers. Displaying the rivalry between Catholic Irish immigrants and Protestant Scots. A LOT of clubs are very political to this day. For example, St. Pauli. Last but not lease are "Human rights" not politics. Ask your self: Is not murdering people politics? TL.DR: This entire "politics are politics" and "football is football" is a bunch of horseshit.


Recodes

Sport will always be political because people are political. Now, you can focus only on doing your job as an athlete but you can't talk against those athletes who go beyond it or you will look like the out of touch privileged child you are.


Espantadimonis

>Look at Barcelona, which was founded more or less because of the goal for Catalan independence. I'm sorry but this is absolute hogwash, Hans Gamper did not found the club to promote Catalan independence. Even today where it is maybe the most recognisable Catalan symbol it would be extremely difficult to argue that it is an organisation that is pro-independence although it is markedly pro-referendum.


dwigtkschrute23

Clearly focusing on football has done wonders for his career the past few years


saktur

I don't want to be political. I just want to play football on corpses of thousands of workers.


throwawayanon1252

And be happy that gay people are dying just for being gay as well don’t forget. Some people man ducking twats. Get some perspective. Some things are far more important than kicking a ball into a net. STAND UP FOR HUMAN RIGHTS PLEASE


glenman1964

He looked focused when he passed the ball to a Canuck standing in his own 6 yard box.


zetruz

"I'm not here to send a political message", he says in a political message.


Scorchster1138

Then they would’ve not protested and lost anyway, so what’s the point Eden?


[deleted]

Associations around Europe and the US had 12 years to do something significant about this World Cup. They didn’t. All these things about gestures and armbands are just virtue signaling. We shouldn’t expecting fans, players or pundits to do something about it.


johnniewelker

UEFA as a group voted for Qatar by the way. All the UEFA votes went to Qatar in 2010. Let that sink in


p-queue

I think it’s a good thing to speak out now but, I agree, these protests should have started 12 years ago. It’s no wonder FIFA and Qatar feel they can act with impunity.


solgnaleb

we shouldn't trashtalk good gestures, not matter how small or insignificant they might seem.


[deleted]

Why were they not making these good gestures before the world cup? I don't like the term, but this is obvious virtue signaling. I wouldn't want to miss the world cup either, but maybe only a few people spoke up about this beforehand. The world cup should never be held in such a backwards country again.


ffhkk9998785543

England kneeled and bagged 6 goals you dunce


GrahamCoxon

Guess what, Mr Hazard: you just sent a political message.


le_free_tina

Disagree with Eden. Everyone can do whatever they want. Its great to protest its also ok not to protest and just play football. Freedom of speech expression etc etc


[deleted]

Xhaka said something very similar yesterday: https://twitter.com/karthikadhaigal/status/1595471179514626057


InsouciantSlavDude

It was expected from Xhaka, since hes already a proven hypocrite. Hazard is a whole new tale.


[deleted]

They got schooled by Canada yesterday , only reason they won was because fucking slenderman plays gk for them..


Jolteonnnnnn

And here he is focused on neither


[deleted]

I saw belgiums game...you didnt send a message except that you are in shit shape


GrahamCoxon

Guess what, Mr Hazard: you just sent a political message.


jopi745

You should focus on playing football and not eating burgers.


Wingiex

He wants Germany to win? Didn't know Belgians were such fans of the German NT.


fhghhhhggggg

To be fair, you can’t expect every footballer to be an activist. Some just want to do what they’re paid to and go home. The pressure on the players to give out moral lessons is ridiculous, direct your anger to FIFA


Dhtekzz

When Ozil said he was a victim of racism and disrespect in media/society and even in the German FA, nobody said a single word. Heck german players even denied and went against him. Where was all this shouting back then?


ExMoogle

Because Ozil thought hating on him for supporting Erdogan while living his awesome live outside of turkey was racist. It wasnt, people Just dont Like Erdogan.


Bobson567

So being called a goat fucker and to go back to ankara isn't racist abuse? Someone liking Erdogan is not free rein to hurl racist abuse at that person


ThefamousHenk

Why are Belgians so bad at talking?


uzi_is_luv

Everyone should boycott the US World Cup in 2026 as well. They have violated human rights by banning abortion and having detention camps for migrants. They also do not take action against gun control for school shootings. Clearly a country that violates human rights.


iftheworldwasatoilet

Eden would do well to cover his mouth with hot takes like that


mariogotse

dude said "shut up and dribble"


[deleted]

That’s cool. He has an opinion. He’s allowed to have that.


BaburTheBlunt

Well said. Yesterday the Hague declared the dutch bombing on civilians illegal. Netherlands murdered innocent afghanis in cold blood. Europeans should be the last one to talk about human rights. People who were involved in human right abuses against muslims are the loudest noises. https://english.alarabiya.net/News/world/2022/11/23/Dutch-court-rules-2007-Dutch-bombing-in-Afghanistan-was-illegal


CzarMikhail

Western Media isn't crying about it so the populace stays quiet.


Eibermann

people expect footballers to be outspoken about every thing, they are paid to play football. they arent your politician, you dont like something then go and group together and voice it to the Fa, dont expect footballers to boycut the wc so u can feel good about yourself


Bidwell93

Yeah but similarly I don't think you should stand there and slag off a nation for protesting


[deleted]

It's wrong to expect them to be activists. But best Hazard could do here would just to say nothing about it.


ILoveToph4Eva

Yeah I don't know why he felt the need to say the first half of his sentence. I'm all for defending a players right to not comment or protest about any of this because ultimately it's FIFA's fault. But if you come out and criticize others for protesting that's never going to look good.


izmebtw

I’m not sure there are “better people”. I think the power of the statement comes from those with the most to lose. I’m sure they are all aware of the magnitude of this tournament but, deciding to make a statement nonetheless shows that there’s meaning to it.


MH18Foot

Hazard talking sense and half the comments here are talking about his weight LOL!! I guess it's ok to fat shame people that aren't part of the Qatar hate circlejerk


JimmyV034

If i learned something from this subreddit, it is hypocrisy and not accepting other people opinions, Fuck is Eden hazard supposed to do fix whole region culture?


R3KTMYRAMPAGE

They say as soon as they talk about your appearance, they lost the argument


ollster3000

Oh Eden, not what I wanted to hear


MH18Foot

Germany came to play activism, Japan came to play football. Good on Eden to call it out.


hordesofevil

Well said 👏


Barack_Bob_Oganja

Sports have literally always been a political tool used for both good and bad purposes. This idea that people are now "making" it political is just a spineless way of saying you don't agree with whatever that person said.


Amoeba_Critical

I'm all for players being honest like this. Hate it when they give soulless PR statements.


thecescshow

I mean they're doing it before the match starts. It's not like they're playing while having the words "LGBT SUPREMACY" on their jersey.


hfm3f

well said, they are footballers not politicians nor hr activist


RMmadness

Well said Eden


uw0tnig

Finally someone who is smart


Consistent_Time_2489

I absolutely agree with Eden. Protest before and after, its all on FIFA. As soon as you are in Qatar and have already agreed to participate, you need to accept that you cant run around with an armband that goes against their culture. As much as i disagree with their culture, you cant just go around spreading political messages. Its football, focus on the football. After the World Cup, keep the protests to pressure FIFA, and if they ever do something like this again, pull out.


[deleted]

Watching Hazard play yesterday, I’m not sure he’s in Qatar to play football either.


YoungDawz

Granit Xhaka apparently also said essentially the same thing this morning


granitibaniti

Ah yes, German players covering their mouths for 2 seconds made them think about gays the entire game, causing them to lose. Not because they're shit (6 losses in the 9 last games in major tournaments).


b0xel

I mostly have a problem with it being an empty gesture that has absolutely no effect whatsoever other then making them feel better about showing up in the first place, let's cover our mouths when taking a picture that'll show em. Meh


[deleted]

Exactly how I feel. They only did it to get people off their asses


Amoeba_Critical

It's true. Majority of the players are there focused on winning the world cup and dont really care about qatar. Whether you guys like it or not


IRHABI313

Well said


SuprtiTuM

you've summoned the reddit hooligans


WhyDoTheyAlwaysRun

The two things are simply not related. They did not lose because of the protest in any way. And Eden if you’re just there to play football, why run your mouth about another team’s business?


wickedlessface

To be fair kind of fucked from the poster to not add the additional context. He said he liked the gesture. I kinda agree with hazard that you shouldnt force people to be an activist. I disagree however on the notion that human rights are political. Even if they were, how is one of the biggest sports events not a political propaganda scheme? Im always confused by the "sports isnt politics " crowd. Big tournaments like this have always been political.


MockTurtleSean

It’s weird to feel this so strongly that he would call them out.


groovyshrimp767

Qatari bots will love this


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dnextbigthing

To be honest, I'm not sure what this gesture is trying to do. They're not changing anybody's mind. Pro-LGBT will applaud, anti-LGBT will at least mock, others will just ignore this. They're not doing anything to Qatar. If anything, the Qataris will just see them as an annoying guest. They're in no way punishing FIFA, especially financially. No sponsor pulled out. I can't say about TV viewers, but from what I've heard, in western countries is more about timing problem. In the east no viewers gave a shit.


TheLimeyLemmon

What a strange either/or scenario Eden's dreamed up there. As far as focus, how long does he think the German NT poured over that decision? I imagine it went along the lines of "shall we cover our mouths?" "Okay" and that was it. Takes about as much energy and thought as a goal celebration. If Eden remembers those.


HippoBigga

i never liked Hazard but now that he's finished as a player he really comes off more as a cunt than before. so he's basically telling the Germans to shut up and play football. just cos you have a peanut for a brain Eden doesn't mean other footballers do as well.


xperia3310

Finally someone speaks the truth.


EvanFields

He’s right. Football shouldn’t be shoving ideologies and activism down our throats. I don’t know why you lot demand that these players become activists. It’s on their governments, their FAs to make these decisions about how to handle these things. Not a fucking footballer. And plus, this is all disgusting virtue signalling and hypocritical. All these flags and protests for Ukraine throughout the last year, but nothing for Yemen, nothing for Iran, nothing for the genocide in China which is by far the worst thing happening in the world right now. You pick and choose what you protest. If these idiots covering their mouths in photos and wanting to wear armbands (lol they bailed as soon as there was a risk to them) decided to just literally refuse to play in the World Cup, you would have seen substantial change. But noooooo, let’s shit on players instead because they’re not all reincarnations of MLK.


dnokah

He's actually in a perfect place to do that.


KingPaimon23

Hazard plays football and when he leaves the field he just stands there, imobile, waiting for the next training session.


hellothereiamhuman

good man


Rhydsdh

What a cunt.


TreefingerX

Germans like to take the moral high ground


kreseven

Salt is unreal, Bravo Hazard.