England skipper Harry Kane volition not deterioration a pro-LGBTQ+ armband Monday, during England’s opening lucifer against Iran astatine the 2022 Qatar World Cup.
Along with six different European countries, England dropped plans for the skipper to deterioration a “One Love” armband owed to FIFA’s menace of “sporting sanctions” — apt yellowish cards for offending players. Homosexuality is amerciable successful Qatar.
“We cannot enactment our players successful the concern wherever they mightiness beryllium booked oregon adjacent forced to permission the tract of play,” a associated statement from the Football Associations of England, Wales, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland reads. The radical of teams added that they are “very frustrated” aft a missive sent to satellite shot governing assemblage FIFA successful September informing astir the privation to deterioration the armband went unanswered.
Over the weekend, the German and Danish teams had vowed that their captains would deterioration the armband, but those countries person present reversed their position.
Qatar has faced criticism ever since it was awarded the tourney successful 2010 for its attraction of migrant workers, arsenic good arsenic its stance connected the LGBTQ+ assemblage and women’s rights.
The armband enactment follows different debates implicit strict rules astatine the Qatar World Cup, including a arguable last-minute determination to prohibition the merchantability of alcohol successful lucifer stadiums.
On Saturday, FIFA President Gianni Infantino blasted Western critics of Qatar’s hosting of the World Cup, accusing them of “hypocrisy” before the start of the planetary shot tournament.
Slamming FIFA and Qatar’s critics for treble standards, Infantino said: “I deliberation for what we Europeans person been doing successful the past 3,000 years astir the world, we should beryllium apologizing for the adjacent 3,000 years, earlier starting to springiness motivation lessons to people.”
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