Qatar 2022: Yellow card for players who dare to wear the “One Love” armband.

1-0 for Fifa, but what a draw! The English Football Association (FA) issued a press release on Monday 21 November on behalf of the Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland and Wales squad. He announced that, under pressure from the International Football Association (FIFA), the captains of these teams will not wear the ‘One Love’ armband they would have liked to wear in support of, among others, the LGBTQI+ community, during the Cup. the world in Qatar. “FIFA has been very clear: it will impose sporting sanctions if our captains wear these armbands on the pitch,” the FA said in its press release broadcast by the FIFA. Telegram. Its signatories say they are “very frustrated” by this decision which they consider “unprecedented”. Some, however, will have tried to stand up to the Federation until the end.

UEFA armband prohibited

On 21 September, at the request of UEFA, the European football body, eight federations (Germany, England, Belgium, Denmark, France, Holland, Wales and Switzerland) had sent FIFA the wish to see their respective captains wearing, during the championship of Nations and the World Cup of Qatar, a bracelet decorated with a multi-colored heart on which “One Love” is written. A way to show support for the LGBTQI+ community, but also against all forms of discrimination. We recall that in Qatar homosexuality is a crime punishable by seven years’ imprisonment, or even the death penalty if the person concerned is Muslim. It also recalls that thousands of workers, many of them undocumented, have died on the construction sites of stadiums and other infrastructure purpose-built for the world.

Couard as a Frenchman

Faced with the request of the European federations, Fifa remained silent for a long time. France, through their captain Hugo Lloris, had finally conceded the first, the player having declared that he would not wear the armband to “respect the culture of Qatar”. So much for French bravery. On Saturday 19 November, the day before the launch of the World Cup in Qatar, FIFA finally expressed its refusal by presenting its bracelets, automatically making the equipment of the “One Love” bracelet illegal and thus exposing players who wear it to penalties. But the European federations had held out. “We were ready to pay the fines that would normally apply for breaches of equipment regulations and were determined to wear the armbandthe FA said in its statement. However, we cannot put our players in a situation where they risk receiving a yellow card or even being forced off the pitch. »

The “great causes” of FIFA

The bracelets presented by Fifa are intended, according to the circular sent to the national federations, to defend “the great universal causes”. For each match day, therefore, the captains will wear an armband with a different message, in English, such as: “Football unites the world” (understand: football unites the world), “Save the planet” ( Save the Planet), ‘Protect the Children’, ‘Education for All’, ‘No Discrimination’ and ‘Be Active’. Messages worthy of a Miss Universe speech, all beautiful and very kind, but extremely consensual. Above all, what do they have more than the “One Love” band? Nothing, if not to show off the despotism of Fifa on the arm of the players.

Cover image: Unsplash / Anastasiia Chepinska