England, Wales & other “OneLove” nations back down from World Cup armband protest after FIFA threats

Harry Kane will not be wearing a rainbow armband when England kick off in their World Cup clash against Iran in a few hours. Neither will Gareth Bale of Wales, Manuel Neuer of Germany, or any of the other European national team captains who joined the pledge in the past few months.

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According to the BBC and numerous other publications, FIFA has cracked down hard against this planned minor protest against the host nation of Qatar’s repressive laws against LGBTQ+ within its border, threatening to issue the captains of every national team with a pre-emptive yellow card in every match in which the OneLove armbands are worn. FIFA prohibits “non-standard” equipment in its football competitions and the armbands, which promote inclusivity and non-discrimination in general terms, were a (very) small protest against both Qatar and world soccer’s governing body.

The seven nations affected issued a joint statement expressing frustration and disappointment with FIFA’s decision, but said they would back down in order to not place their national team captains in a position where they would face “sporting sanctions, including bookings.” The federations had written to FIFA weeks ago seeking permission to wear the armbands and had never heard back.

The full text of the statement is below.

“Fifa has been very clear that it will impose sporting sanctions if our captains wear the armbands on the field of play. 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.

“We were prepared to pay fines that would normally apply to breaches of kit regulations and had a strong commitment to wearing the armband. However, we cannot put our players in the situation where they might be booked or even forced to leave the field of play.

“We are very frustrated by the Fifa decision which we believe 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. Our players and coaches are disappointed – they are strong supporters of inclusion and will show support in other ways.”

“Fifa has been very clear that it will impose sporting sanctions if our captains wear the armbands on the field of play. 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.”

In response, FIFA had announced that it would allow national team captains to wear “standard” armbands with anodyne hashtag phrases such as #ProtectThePlanet, #BeActive, #ShareTheMeal, #ProtectChildren, and notably in the quarterfinals only, #NoDiscrimination.