Apparently, “extreme blackmail” and “massive sanctions” forced England World Cup team to back down from their decision to wear anti-discrimination OneLove armbands that forced other European countries to follow, the German Football Association (DFB) has said. Keep reading below for everything you need to know.
The federations of England, Wales, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany and Denmark U-turned on their stance to wear the heart-shaped, multicolored logo in support of LGBTQ rights – a gesture that was seen as a snub to the host nation Qatar – after FIFA threatened to issue yellow cards to players wearing the armbands.
World Cup 2022 News: Why Is England Not Wearing OneLove Arm Bands?
The German FA has said they are “considering” legal action and are talking to other European footballing bodies. The captains of the seven European nations had vowed to wear armbands as part of the OneLove campaign which promotes inclusion and diversity. Homosexuality is illegal in Qatar, which has also been criticised for its treatment of low-paid migrant workers and women and its suppression of free speech.
But this week, a spokesperson for DFB told German radio that England had been threatened with sporting sanctions in a bid to stop them from wearing the bands. Media director Steffen Simon told German Deutschlandfunk radio: “The tournament director went to the English team and talked about multiple rule violations and threatened with massive sporting sanctions without specifying what these would be.”
He said the other six nations then decided to “show solidarity” and not wear the armbands. “We lost the armband and it is very painful but we are the same people as before with the same values. We are not impostors who claim they have values and then betray them,” Simon said. “We were in an extreme situation, in an extreme blackmail and we thought we had to take that decision without wanting to do so.”
FIFA’s equipment regulations state: “For FIFA final competitions, the captain of each team must wear the captain’s armband provided by FIFA.”
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