Neuer without the rainbow band. But Germany protests: players with their hands over their mouths

In the end Martin Neuer, the captain of Germany, did not wear the rainbow band for LGBTQ+ rights, but the official Fifa “no discrimination” band. And to protest against the ban by world football’s governing body, the strong gesture of the German players arrived, who posed with their hand to cover their mouth in the usual photo.

A clear message: they have taken away our word, they have not allowed us to express our opinion. However, Neuer was “obscured” by the international direction: only a still image on the draw before the match, long shots of the Germany goalkeeper.

On Twitter

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A few minutes after the start of the match, the federation’s statement arrived on Twitter: “We wanted to use our captain’s armband to take a stand on the values ​​we have in the German national team: diversity and mutual respect. Together with other nations, we wanted our voice to be heard. We wanted to use our captain’s armband to take a stand on the values ​​we have in the German national team: diversity and mutual respect. Together with other nations, we wanted our voice to be heard. It was not about making a political statement: human rights are not negotiable. It should be taken for granted, but it still isn’t. That’s why this message is so important to us. Denying us the armband is like turning off our voice. We stand by our position.”

The football federation

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Shortly before Germany’s World Cup debut in the match against Japan, the president of the German Football Association, Bernd Neuendorf had also harshly criticized Fifa for having banned the “One Love” armband. “Fifa works with intimidation and pressure,” Neuendorf said on ARD TV: “We are against Fifa’s decision not to allow the use of the rainbow armband. We want to see how we can initiate further measures. Tomorrow we will have a meeting with the 7 nations involved in the project”.

The government

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FIFA’s decision to ban players from wearing a ‘OneLove’ armband was ‘very unfortunate’, the German government spokesman said on Wednesday. “The rights of LGBTQ+ people are not negotiable,” Steffen Hebestreit said at a regular press conference, adding that it is regrettable that “we see that it is clearly not possible at the World Cup to take a stand or show a sign of solidarity”.