An ambassador for the World Cup in Qatar has described homosexuality as a damage in the mind in an interview with German public broadcaster ZDF only two weeks before the opening of the soccer tournament in the Gulf state, highlighting concerns about the conservative countrys treatment of gays and lesbians.

Former Qatari national team player Khalid Salman told a German reporter in an interview that being gay is haram, or forbidden in Arabic, and that he has a problem with children seeing gay people.