Gianni Infantino, FIFA president, said on Saturday that he felt “Qatari, gay, disabled or like a migrant worker” at a press conference ahead of the opening of the World Cup, AFP reported.

“Today I feel Qatari, I feel Arab, I feel African, I feel gay, I feel disabled, I feel migrant worker.

I feel this because I know what it means to be discriminated against, to be abused as a foreigner in a foreign country. As a child, I was bullied because I was red-haired and had freckles. Also, I was Italian, so imagine that. what are you doing then You are trying to make friends. You don’t start blaming, fighting, insulting,” Gianni Infantino quoted Daily Mail as saying.

The FIFA president’s statements came in the context of harsh criticism of Qatar in recent years for problems related to human rights and discrimination.