Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal tests positive for COVID-19

Van Gaal gave a news conference on Monday at which he sharply criticized staging the World Cup in Qatar.

The Netherlands, a three-time World Cup finalist, qualified for the tournament after missing the last edition in Russia. Van Gaal previously coached the Netherlands to the semifinals at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Louis van Gaal has been critical of the upcoming FIFA Football World Cup which will be hosted in Qatar.

The finalists discover on April 1 who they will be playing at the Nov. 21-Dec. 18 tournament is one of the most controversial hosting selections in FIFA's history.

It's ridiculous that we're going to play in a country to what does FIFA say? - to develop football there," Van Gaal said on Monday, and you do that by organizing a tournament in that country. That is (expletive). But it doesn't matter. It's about money, commercial interests. That's what matters to FIFA. The World Cup vote was dogged by corruption allegations that FIFA did not verify, and Qatar has been forced to improve working conditions after rights groups highlighted violations in the construction of the stadiums in the tiny Gulf country.

Why do you think I'm not on commissions in FIFA with my ... expertise?" Van Gaal said. "Because I have always opposed this sort of organization. It's not right.

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