Threatened with “sporting sanctions” by FIFA if their captain wore the multicolored “One Love” armband during the 2022 World Cup, the seven European teams still engaged in this campaign against discrimination preferred to give up this symbolic gesture on Monday.
This little piece of fabric with a heart filled with six colored stripes, supposed to symbolize inclusion and diversity, will have been one of the “stars” of the World Cup contested in a country, Qatar, much criticized for the fate reserved for LGBTQ+ people. Like sex outside marriage, homosexuality is criminalized there.
Initially, eight teams – Germany, England, Belgium, Denmark, France, Netherlands, Wales and Switzerland – had entered, with Norway and Sweden, not qualified for the World Cup.
But, as early as last week, France announced that it would not challenge the growing reluctance of FIFA – and that of the president of its football federation, Noël Le Graët – with regard to this initiative.
The prospect of financial sanctions had not deterred the last seven refractories, but that of sporting sanctions, in the form of a yellow card to the captain, ended up convincing them to throw in the towel, not without bitterness.
Straddling the Rules
“As national federations, we cannot ask our players to risk sporting sanctions, including yellow cards,” the federations of the seven countries wrote in a joint statement.
“We were ready to pay fines […] but we cannot put our players in the situation where they could be warned, or even have to leave the field “(in the event of a second yellow card), they also argued.
Long silent on the subject, FIFA, which saw it as an implicit criticism of the host country, reacted on Saturday by unsheathing its own captain’s armbands, carrying much more consensual messages, such as “Save the planet”, “Education for all or even “No to discrimination”.
On Monday, the supreme body of world football announced that its official armbands flocked with the message “No to discrimination” would be usable by the captains from now on, whereas this watchword was to appear in principle during the quarter-finals.
“This is in line with article 13.8.1 of the FIFA Equipment Regulations which states that ‘For the final stages of FIFA competitions, the captain of each team must wear the captain’s armband provided by FIFA’,” he said. underlined the organization with authority.
Its president, Gianni Infantino, also reassured that the 2022 World Cup was open to the LGBTQ+ community.
The “contempt” of FIFA
“I spoke to the highest authorities in the country. They confirmed and I can confirm that everyone is welcome. If anyone says otherwise, well, that’s not the opinion of the country and it’s certainly not the opinion of FIFA,” he said in the statement.
But it is an understatement to say that this position, as late as it is authoritarian, by FIFA does not pass with the teams concerned.
“A few hours before the first game, FIFA (officially) told us that the captain would receive a yellow card if he wore the ‘One Love’ captain’s armband. We deeply regret that it was not possible to reach a reasonable solution together,” said the Dutch federation KNVB, which was behind the initiative announced two months ago.
“The KNVB would have paid a possible fine for wearing the ‘One Love’ captain’s armband, but that FIFA wants to punish us on the pitch for this is unheard of,” she insisted.
The case is far from closed: “Together with the other countries concerned, we will take a critical look at our relations with FIFA in the coming period,” promised the KNVB.
Fans don’t like it either, like the British Football Supporters’ Association (FSA), which parodied Infantino’s anaphora during its press conference on Saturday: “Today LGBTQ+ supporters and their allies feel angry. Today we feel betrayed. Today we feel the contempt of an organization which has shown its true values by giving a yellow card to players and a red card to tolerance”.