Qatar 2022, risk of booking for the rainbow band. And the teams give up

Now the clarification of Fifa arrives. And she makes many turn up their noses. After making the rainbow “One Love” armband that many captains, from Kane to Neuer, had announced they wanted to wear to protest against Qatar’s repression of the LGBTQI+ community, the International Federation declares that its “No Discrimination” campaign can also be carried forward to the World Cup and that all 32 captains have the opportunity to wear the Fifa armband of the campaign in question. Which isn’t exactly the same…

The renunciation

—

Already in the last few hours several captains had decided to take a step back. By regulation, article 13.8.1, players can only wear official clothing and equipment supplied by FIFA. The exposure of another kind of flanks can be punished with a yellow card. “The prospect of starting a game as a bookable doesn’t excite me,” said Van Dijk. And this morning the decision had arrived, thanks to the Dutch federation, to give up this form of protest. Van Dijk had been the first, then a joint statement arrived from England, Wales, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland and obviously Holland which said: “Fifa has been very clear on the sanctions that our captains would have by wearing the armband One Love on the pitch. As an association we cannot put our players in this position, so we asked the captains to step down. We were ready to pay fines… but we still cannot put players in a position to be booked or maybe forced to stop. leave the pitch. We are very frustrated with FIFA’s decision, our players and coaches are disappointed: they are strong supporters of inclusion and will show support in other ways.”

Only today the answer

—

Various federations had written to FIFA in September asking for clarification on the possibility of wearing armbands, but received no reply. It arrived today. And considering that they had been used without much fanfare in the Nations League, there can only be regret for a missed opportunity.