Seven European football teams in the World Cup have said they won’t wear LGBTQ armbands in Qatar after FIFA, which organizes the tournament, said players sporting the bands would be penalized.
FIFA has also ordered Belgium to remove the word love from the color of their jersey or face harsh penalties.
Facing the threat of having their captains receive a yellow card before the first whistle of the match, England, Wales, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland decided to not wear the arm bands for their matches in Qatar.
“For FIFA final competitions, the captain of each team must wear the captain’s armband provided by FIFA,” the governing body’s equipment regulations state.
The associations said they had written to FIFA in September to notify the Switzerland-based organisation of their plans involving the “OneLove” armband but had not received any response.
The seven teams said in a statement that they won’t put their chances of winning in jeopardy because of the campaign a reason why they are backing out.
"We cannot put our players in the situation where they might be booked or even forced to leave the field of play."
England, Wales, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands & Switzerland announce captains won't wear the 'One Love' armbands for 2022 FIFA World Cup (via @RobHarris) pic.twitter.com/lb8XVVEwJQ
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) November 21, 2022
The Belgium 2022 World Cup away shirt was created in collaboration with Tomorrowland, a famous electronic dance music festival held in Boom, Flanders, since 2005 and considered the biggest festival in the world.
The FIFA body, however, said that they need to change the shirts not because of the colours and message that typically linked to LGBTQ+, but because of the commercial link to Tomorrowland.
Belgium’s warm-up shirt was also rejected by FIFA because of its references to Tomorrowland, he said.
