Megan Rapinoe demands Messi, Ronaldo and Ibrahimovic to speak out against sexism. She claims that they are afraid of losing everything.
Megan Rapinoe has been rewarded with the Ballon d’Or after helping U.S.A defend the World Cup title this summer. She has since become immensely popular for voicing her opinions on Gender inequality in the world and more so in sports.
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In the past, she has spoken out against sexism, racism and homophobia. She was also the first white professional athlete to kneel down for the U.S national anthem; joining Colin Kaepernick’s protest against racial and social injustice in the United States.
She is known to be very fearless when speaking her thoughts. It appears that the big stars of football have not been spared her wrath. Rapinoe has now called out Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic for doing very little regarding the inequality and problems in football,
Megan Rapinoe demands Messi, Ronaldo and Ibrahimovic to speak out against sexism
The USA international told France Football per Indy100:
“I want to shout: ‘Cristiano (Ronaldo), Leo (Messi), Zlatan (Ibrahimovic) – help me!”
“These big stars don’t engage in anything when there are so many problems in football!
“Are they afraid of losing everything? They might believe that but it’s not true… Who would banish Messi or Ronaldo from the football world for speaking out against racism or sexism?”
Both Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic have previously spoken on issues such as racism and discrimination with the Portuguese very recently defending Kalidou Koulibaly on his Instagram saying, “No to racism and any offense & discrimination.”
Lionel Messi on the other hand, is not very well known to discuss matters outside of what happens on the pitch. However, Ibrahimovic stirred a storm back in 2013. He had said that women’s football couldn’t be compared to the men’s game.
Zlatan told Expressen newspaper per ESPN:
“With all respect for what the ladies have done, and they’ve done it fantastically well, you can’t compare men’s and women’s football. Give it up. It’s not even funny,”
Ballon d’Or a reward
Rapinoe, who won the Golden boot at this year’s women’s world cup has acknowledged that perhaps the Ballon d’Or was a recognition of her stance beyond the game.
“This Ballon d’Or rewards both,” she said. “On the one hand, I am a good player. On the other, my activity away from the pitch brings me support as people understand I am acting to find solutions to our society’s problems. The idea is to empower others to speak louder.”
“I’m lucky to have some talent to lead. I don’t fear the consequences, so I say what to say. I’m exhausted from travelling for conferences and meetings but, if things need to improve in our world, so be it on the front line.”
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