the captain of England, wales, Belgium, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands I will not wear the “One Love” anti-discrimination armband in the World Cup opening match after it has been confirmed that the captain will be given a yellow card if he participates in the initiative.
The announcement came just before the World Cup campaign started. The National Federation said it was prepared to pay a fine to the captain for wearing the “One Love” armband, but plans had to change when it became clear that the captain would be sanctioned.
– Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga and more (US)
“FIFA has made it very clear that it will impose a sporting sanction if a captain wears an armband on the field,” the joint statement read. I asked the captain not to wear an armband at FIFA World Cup matches because I cannot put him in a position to face sports sanctions, including.
“We are usually prepared to pay the fines that apply for breaking the rules of the kit and have made a strong commitment to wear armbands. cannot be placed in the .
“We are very dissatisfied with FIFA’s unprecedented decision. We sent a letter to FIFA in September wishing to wear the ‘OneLove’ armband to actively support inclusion in football. but received no response.They are strong supporters of inclusion and will show their support in other ways.”
Before the start of the tournament, FIFA announced that each round of the competition would feature seven different armbands, each with a different social message slogan. However, shortly after seven nations announced on Monday that they would not wear the ‘OneLove’ armband, FIFA made the ‘No Discrimination’ armband, previously set to be worn in the quarter-finals, available for the entire tournament. announced that it will
“Following discussions, FIFA decided to bring forward the ‘non-discrimination’ campaign from the planned quarter-final stage to give all 32 captains the opportunity to wear the armband at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. can be verified,” the statement said.
“This is in line with article 13.8.1 of the FIFA Equipment Regulations, which states that ‘at the FIFA Finals, the captain of each team must wear the captain’s armband provided by FIFA’.”
The Dutch were the first to publicly announce Virgil van Dijk I don’t wear armbands. A KNVB statement on the decision said: We were unable to arrive at a reasonable solution together.
“We stand by the OneLove message and will continue to spread it, but our number one priority at the World Cup is to win games. So why did the UEFA Working Group, KNVB and the team as a team decide to abandon our plans?”
KNVB added: “As previously announced, KNVB could pay a fine for wearing the ‘OneLove’ captain’s armband, but FIFA wants to punish us on the field for this. We didn’t see it. This is against our ethos. It’s a sport that connects millions of people, and we will look critically at our relationship with FIFA in the future, along with other countries involved.”
France, which also joined the initiative, does not wear armbands either. French Football Federation (FFF) president Noël Le Graet said: “More than the players.” not wearing a rainbow armbandwhile captain Hugo Loris He reiterated the team’s position at Monday’s press conference. “Too much pressure” About athletes protesting in Qatar.
Nine countries, including Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium, will wear the armband in September. Diversity, inclusion and anti-discrimination Amid concerns over World Cup host Qatar’s human rights record.
FIFA and UEFA do not normally allow teams to make political statements, but European football’s governing bodies have exempted them from wearing armbands at UEFA Nations League matches.
FIFA has not made their stance clear, and just one day before the World Cup started, they unveiled their own armbands to be worn by all captains to raise social awareness. There were only seven nations, and nine were prepared to accept fines for making the gesture, although there was a suggestion that each captain could receive a yellow card at the kick-off of each match.
And on a day when European nations were preparing to launch their World Cup campaign, the captain made the unilateral decision not to wear an armband for fear of being sanctioned.
The day before England’s first match Irantheir captain Harry Kane I said I was going to wear it.
“I think we’ve made it clear as a team, as a staff, as an organization that we want to wear armbands,” Kane said on Sunday. We’ll decide by the game and I think we’ve made it clear that we want to wear it.”
Dutch coach Louis van Gaal and captain van Dijk were asked at a press conference the day before the opening game if they would wear armbands. No. I’m talking about this next game and stopping all these issues once and for all.
“After inviting the immigrants to practice, I asked all the players to stop it completely and focus on the match against Senegal.”
Other countries have confirmed they plan to wear armbands, including both Wales and Germany doing so over the weekend.
