Think Football 2022: "It's unthinkable that a player would not go to the World Cup" (P. Piat, UNFP)

"In the UNFP statutes, it is forbidden to talk about politics or religion in our meetings. This raises the problem of our position in relation to Qatar. I am often asked what we are going to do about what is happening there. It's not possible to consider a boycott by the players. It is unthinkable that a player, who has a very short career and has the chance to take part in a World Cup, would not go," declared Philippe Piat, co-president of the UNFP, during Think Football 2022, the sixth edition of the annual event organised by News Tank Football, held this year at the FFF headquarters in Paris (FRA), on 04/10/2022.

News Tank paid tribute to the man who has been at the head of the French professional footballers' union since 1969 - that is, for more than half a century -, a presidency shared with Sylvain Kastendeuch since 2006. Philippe Piat then took part in a round table discussion on the role of football unions.

"FIFA promised us during a face-to-face meeting that reforms would be carried out to better integrate players into the governing bodies, and in the end they weren't…