A recent story reported that Sweden's sexual equality groups demanded yesterday that their soccer team pull out of the World Cup in Germany in protest of extra brothels being set up to cope with demand from an upcoming influx of soccer fans.
The Cape Times reported that the idea didn’t receive much attention from Swedish Football Association president Lars-Ake Lagrell, who said such a move would "disappoint the nation" and probably get it knocked out of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa as well.
With a million visitors heading to Germany for the month-long tournament starting on June 9, red light districts of the 12 host cities are braced for a huge influx.
Unlike Germany, the story reported, where some 400,000 prostitutes work legally, Sweden has introduced some of Europe's toughest laws against prostitution, targeting those buying sex rather than prostitutes themselves, who are treated as victims.
Alarmed at reports of giant brothels and wooden "sex huts" being built for the World Cup, Swedish politicians took up the cause, earning Lagrell the offer of a guided tour of a brothel from a group of German prostitutes, which he declined.
The report said that conservative German Prime Minister Thomas Bodstrom has called on Germany to simply "forbid buying sex" to prevent the exploitation of women.
Lagrell promised that no Swedish player will use brothels in the World Cup, but has resisted calls for high-profile players like Juventus striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Arsenal's Fredrik Ljungberg or Barcelona's Henrik Larsson to campaign against prostitution.
