Seven European teams withdrew from wearing badges supporting homosexuality during the World Cup matches, fearing the penalties that FIFA announced its intention to impose on violators during the Qatar World Cup 2022.
“As national federations, we cannot put our players in a position where they may be subject to penalties, including yellow cards, from the moment they take to the field,” the seven teams said in a joint statement.
The statement was issued by England, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Wales and Switzerland.
The statement appealed to national team captains “not to attempt” to wear these homosexual armbands in the 2022 World Cup matches.
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And the statement continued: “The International Federation of Football Associations was clear that it would impose sporting sanctions if the captains of the national teams wore armbands (One Love – One Love) that support homosexuality.”
In the context, the statement indicated that the federations were ready to pay financial fines in the event of wearing these badges, but they retracted their position for fear of “putting the players in a situation where they might be detained or even forced to leave the stadium.”
And they added, “We are deeply disappointed by FIFA’s decision, which we believe is unprecedented.”
In the context, the Dutch Football Association said in a separate statement, “Our first priority in the World Cup is to win matches.”
He addressed the Dutch fans, saying, “You do not want the captain of the team to start the match with a yellow card.”
The Dutch national team’s retraction of the decision to wear the armband comes while the gay support initiative was established in the Netherlands in 2020.
