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The Wembley arch was lit up successful rainbow colours connected Friday evening successful enactment of the LGBTQ+ community| Host nation: Qatar Dates: 20 November-18 December Coverage: Live connected BBC TV, BBC iPlayer, BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru, BBC Sounds and the BBC Sport website and app. Day-by-day TV listings - Full sum details |
Football Association main enforcement Mark Bullingham says Fifa threatened "unlimited" sanctions against players who wore the OneLove armband during matches astatine the World Cup successful Qatar.
England, Wales and 5 different European nations planned to deterioration the armband to beforehand diverseness and inclusion.
They were forced to wantonness those plans aft Fifa threatened them with sporting sanctions.
Bullingham said the FA took Fifa's menace to mean players could look bans.
"It was unlimited. They would instrumentality disciplinary enactment against immoderate subordinate that was wearing the armband connected apical of having a yellowish card," helium told ITV Sport.
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The governing bodies of England, Wales, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland said they had written to Fifa successful September informing them astir the OneLove armband, but did not person a response.
"We had a batch of meetings with Fifa implicit that play and connected Saturday earlier the crippled we felt we'd reached an knowing wherever we would deterioration it," added Bullingham. "We hadn't got support but we would look a good for it.
"Unfortunately then, connected the time of the game, they gave america 10 minutes' announcement - 2 hours earlier we were owed to spell to the game.
"They came present with 5 officials and they ran america done a script where, astatine a minimum, anyone wearing the armband would beryllium booked and look disciplinary enactment connected apical of that."
In effect to Fifa's threat, Germany's players covered their mouths for the squad photo earlier their lucifer against Japan connected Tuesday successful protest.
No disciplinary enactment was taken, though the German shot federation (DFB) said it was going to analyse whether Fifa's menace to authorisation players for wearing the armband is legal.
The England players opted against further protestation earlier Friday's lucifer against USA, though the Wembley arch was lit up successful rainbow colours.
"The FA volition proceed to amusement our enactment to the LGBTQ+ assemblage and each different communities during this tourney and agelong beyond, starting with lighting up the Wembley Stadium arch successful rainbow colours for Friday night's lucifer with the USA," the FA said successful a statement.
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