Gary Lineker: The BBC should have talked about Russia at the 2018 World Cup
Gary Lineker: The BBC should have talked about Russia at the 2018 World Cup
This video cannot be played
To play this video you need JavaScript enabled in your browser. < /figure>By Emma SaundersEntertainment reporter
Football presenter Gary Lineker says he and the BBC should have talked more about human rights issues at the World Cup in Russia in 2018.
Lineker, who provides BBC coverage of this year's World Cup in Qatar, said: "I think we we were sport washed four years ago when we were in Russia."
He added, "I look back four years and feel slightly uncomfortable."
There was a request that Russia be removed from the 2018 tournament after annexed Crimea in 2014.
Lineker told BBC Radio 4's The Media Show that "we maybe don't talk enough about the other issues" as well as football in Russia.
This time the BBC expert panel discussed human rights issues in Qatar ahead of Sunday's opener.
Lineker said "it was deemed the right thing to do" not to just talk about the sport.
< p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">"I think we learned from what we probably felt was a mistake [with Russia]. I think in hindsight we probably should have spoken more."
BBC Sport said they would not comment.
Sportswashing occurs when a country or organization seeks to improve its reputation by hosting or sponsoring a major sporting event.
To play this video you need JavaScript enabled in your browser. < /figure>By Emma SaundersEntertainment reporter
Football presenter Gary Lineker says he and the BBC should have talked more about human rights issues at the World Cup in Russia in 2018.
Lineker, who provides BBC coverage of this year's World Cup in Qatar, said: "I think we we were sport washed four years ago when we were in Russia."
He added, "I look back four years and feel slightly uncomfortable."
There was a request that Russia be removed from the 2018 tournament after annexed Crimea in 2014.
Lineker told BBC Radio 4's The Media Show that "we maybe don't talk enough about the other issues" as well as football in Russia.
This time the BBC expert panel discussed human rights issues in Qatar ahead of Sunday's opener.
Lineker said "it was deemed the right thing to do" not to just talk about the sport.
< p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">"I think we learned from what we probably felt was a mistake [with Russia]. I think in hindsight we probably should have spoken more."
BBC Sport said they would not comment.
Sportswashing occurs when a country or organization seeks to improve its reputation by hosting or sponsoring a major sporting event.
