The coach of France's national football team, Raymond Domenech, said Wednesday that he was scandalised by the prospect of thousands of prostitutes being imported to Germany for the 2006 World Cup.
"It is truly scandalous," Domenech told France Inter radio. "People are talking about women, importing them to satisfy the base instincts of people associated with football."
Several human rights organisations have warned that thousands of women, most of them brought from eastern Europe, could be forced to work in Germany as prostitutes during the World Cup, which runs from June 9 to July 9.
"It is humiliating enough for me that football is linked with alcohol and violence," Domenech said. "But this is worse. It is slaves that will come and be put into houses. Human beings are being talked about like cattle, and football is linked with that."
In Germany, prostitution is a legally recognised profession.