As a result of pressure from FIFA, England has declared they will not wear the One Love armband during the World Cup in Qatar.
Although the armbands do not expressly address Qatar’s anti-LGBT legislation, they were meant to condemn any sort of homophobia; homosexuality is illegal in Qatar.
The FA has already stated that England will not be wearing the armband this winter, despite the fact that seven countries expressed a wish to do so, despite FIFA’s threat of sanctions.
“FIFA has made it quite clear that sporting fines would be imposed if our captains wear armbands on the field of play. As national federations, we cannot put our players in a position where they could face sporting sanctions, so we have asked the captains not to wear the armbands during FIFA World Cup games “The Football Associations of England, Wales, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland issued a joint statement.
“We are quite disappointed by FIFA’s decision, which we consider to be unprecedented. In September, we informed FIFA of our desire to wear the One Love armband to actively promote equality in football, but received no answer.
The nations were ready to “pay fines that would normally be given for not following kit regulations,” but the plans were scrapped because players could be fined every time they wore the armband.
We can’t put our players in a position where they might get a ticket or even have to leave the field,” the statement said.
