German Football Association exec says teams ‘blackmailed’ on One Love armband
“We are not impostors who claim they have values and then betray them,” media director Steffen Simon said.
England’s U-turn on the decision to wear the One Love armband was the result of threats of “massive sanctions” and “extreme blackmail,” according to the German Football Association (DFB, Deutscher Fußball-Bund)
Ahead of their first Qatar World Cup game, England captain Harry Kane stated he was “absolutely committed” to wearing the rainbow One Love armband.
However, with hours to go until their first match England, Wales, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland reversed their decision to wear the armband after FIFA warned that wearing the armband could result in players being booked.
The nations released a joint statement outlining that they could not put their players “in a position where they could face sporting sanctions.”
The One Love armband was used to promote diversity and inclusion in protest against Qatar’s law that punishes homosexuality with prison sentences or even death.
The DFB’s media director Steffen Simon told German Deutschlandfunk radio: “The tournament director went to the English team and talked about multiple rule violations and threatened with massive sporting sanctions without specifying what these would be.”
Although they had lost the armband Simon insisted, “We are the same people as before with the same values,” adding, “We are not impostors who claim they have values and then betray them.”
He continued, “We were in an extreme situation, in an extreme blackmail and we thought we had to take that decision without wanting to do so.”
Germany captain and Bayern Munich star, Joshua Kimmich shared he was “surprised with the ban,” Metro reports.
“We players are very reflective and point the issues out, but we should talk about football again at some point. It’s not my fault that the World Cup was awarded here 12 years ago. I was 15 back then,” Kimmich added.
He noted he feels the need to “keep speaking about it” and “have the opportunity to go outside and see what life is really like. We live in a kind of bubble.”
Despite the One Love disruption, Alex Scott defied FIFA and wore a One Love armband during BBC World Cup coverage.
Similarly, ahead of the kickoff for the Germany-Japan game on Wednesday (23 November), German players stood with their mouths covered in response to the threat of wearing the One Love armband.
“Armband or no armband, we stand by our position,” their statement reads.
FIFA and Qatari officials are reportedly in “urgent talks” after fans had been forced to remove rainbow items of clothing when entering World Cup stadiums.
Wales supporters, including former Wales captain Laura McAllister, had their rainbow-coloured bucket hats confiscated. There were worries about such restrictions on rainbow-branded items ahead of the World Cup that are now resurfacing.
The Football Association of Wales (FAW) released a statement expressing its disappointment: “the FAW were extremely disappointed by reports that members of Y Wal Goch, which included FAW staff members, were asked to remove and discard their Rainbow Wall bucket hats before entry to the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium.”
“The FAW has collated information on these alleged incidents and will be addressing this matter directly with Fifa,” the statement adds.
The FIFA World Cup will be held until 18 December 2022.
Attitude has contacted FIFA for a response.