Captains to lose ‘OneLove’ armbands

DOHA - The captains of England, Wales, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany and Denmark will not wear ‘OneLove’ armbands at the World Cup under pressure from FIFA, their associations said in a joint statement on Monday.

FIFA has threatened to issue yellow cards to any player wearing the multi-coloured armband which was introduced to support diversity and inclusion.

England captain Harry Kane spoke on Sunday of his desire to wear the armband in Monday’s Group B opener against Iran.

“FIFA has been very clear that it will impose sporting sanctions if our captains wear the armbands on the field of play,” the statement said, hours before England’s match against Iran was due to kick off in Doha.

“As national federations, we can’t put our players in a position where they could face sporting sanctions including bookings, so we have asked the captains not to attempt to wear the armbands in FIFA World Cup games.

“The move attracted swift and scathing criticism from groups representing the LGBT+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) community.

“More than disappointing that @ FIFAWorldCup and @FIFAcom silence & deflection means European captains face starting games with yellow cards for trying to highlight issues around human rights,” 3LionsPride, a group representing England fans, said.

“Their basic rights to freedom of speech & expression being crushed by FIFA.”England’s Football Supporters’ Association (FSA) said it felt contempt for FIFA.

“To paraphrase FIFA president Gianni Infantino — today LGBT+ football supporters and their allies will feel angry,” it said.

“Today we feel betrayed. Today we feel contempt for an organisation that has shown its true values by giving the yellow card to players and the red card to tolerance.

“The nations’ joint statement said they were “very frustrated” by the FIFA decision which came days after president Gianni Infantino said “today I feel gay” during a long monologue aimed at media criticising the decision to host the World Cup in a country where homosexuality remains illegal.

“We believe (the decision) is unprecedented — we wrote to FIFA in September informing them of our wish to wear the One Love armband to actively support inclusion in football, and had no response,” the statement said.

“Our players and coaches are disappointed — they are strong supporters of inclusion and will show support in other ways.”

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