What women and the LGBTQ community should know when visiting Qatar 4:38
(CNN) --
FIFA President Gianni Infantino asked participating countries to make soccer the center of attention at the World Cup in Qatar, but that has not been the case.
World soccer's governing body has come into conflict with seven European countries over threatening sanctions against any player who wears the "OneLove" armband during matches.
FIFA's announcement drove a wedge between soccer's governing body and the seven nations involved, though neither side has avoided criticism.
The "OneLove" bracelet — which features the outline of a striped heart in different colors — was to be worn by the captains of England, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland and Wales in the World Cup to promote the inclusion and show solidarity with people of different genders and sexual identities.
Seven European teams considering legal options in dispute with FIFA over OneLove bracelet, says Netherlands Football Federation
However, hours before England captain Harry Kane was to wear the armband against Iran on Monday, FIFA said any player wearing the armbands would receive a yellow card, risking being sent off. or being banned from a later match in the tournament.
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FIFA regulations state that team captains must wear armbands provided by the governing body, although the governing body said it "supports all legitimate causes, including 'OneLove'."
However, the feud has continued as a sideshow to the tournament itself.
While players like Kane did not wear the armband, Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib did when speaking to Infantino in the Belgium-Canada game on Wednesday.
Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib wears a "OneLove" bracelet in the stands as she chats with Gianni Infantino.
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser also wore the armband with Infantino sitting nearby during her country's 2-1 loss to Japan.
"It's pretty scary for LGBTQ communities around the world to see our lives so controversial... It's become a pretty painful and long-running debate that questions the validity of LGBTQ+ lives on a global scale," said Liz Ward, Director of programs from the LGBTQ+ charity Stonewall, to CNN Sport.
In a joint statement, the seven European associations said they had asked their captains not to wear the 'OneLove' armband as they could not "put players in a position where they could face sporting sanctions, including bookings." .
Germany and its "silent" protest at the World Cup in Qatar
This position was reinforced by Jakob Jensen, director general of the Danish Football Association, who told CNN Connect the World this week that "it is not the players' responsibility to discuss human rights in Qatar, nor to discuss FIFA's decisions."
"These fantastic soccer players on our team have dreamed of the World Cup since they were children," Jensen said.
"We don't want to take them off the pitch. We want matches to be won on the pitch, not behind a desk. That's why we've decided to do this," he added.
If players receive two yellow cards in two different matches, they are automatically suspended for their next match in the World Cup, while two yellow cards in the same match mean expulsion.
But some former players believe it would have been a risk worth taking.
Before the start of the match between Germany and Japan in the group stage, the 11 German starters posed for a team photo with their right hands covering their mouths.
The team's social media outlets confirmed the gesture was meant to protest FIFA's decision to ban the "OneLove" armband many European captains expected to wear in Qatar.
(Visionhaus/Getty Images)
"It would have been a great statement," said former Republic of Ireland midfielder Roy Keane, speaking as a commentator on ITV.
"Doing it in the first game, if you get the yellow card, imagine what message Kane or [Wales captain Gareth] Bale would have given."
"You do it and then the next game you move on. You don't have to use it again because obviously you don't want to get suspended. I think that was a big mistake."
Josh Cavallo, the world's only openly gay premier league men's soccer player, told CNN he felt "left out" by the decision to penalize players for wearing the armband, while others have questioned the impact such a move could have. gesture in Qatar, a country where sex between men is illegal and punishable by up to three years in prison.
"Conversations I've had with people in the LGBTQi+ community make that message vague and lacking any real statement about what he's really trying to achieve," Australian midfielder Jackson Irvine told reporters.
This is the situation in Qatar for the LGBTQ community, women and migrants
A campaign group agrees.
"The 'OneLove' bracelet was just a symbolic gesture," Khya Gott, a representative for Pride in Football, told CNN Sport.
"It doesn't involve the dramatic statements they were looking for. Player gestures are important, and very necessary, but only if done correctly."
Gott also noted that the "OneLove" campaign is not just about LGBTQ rights, but about ending discrimination in all its forms.
This was made clear in a September press release from the English Football Association, which said the campaign uses the power of football to "promote inclusion and send a message against discrimination of any kind, at a time when the eyes of the world land in the global game".
Team captains wore the "OneLove" armband during UEFA Nations League matches several months before the start of the World Cup, but it was not until Monday that FIFA announced the possibility of sanctioning players who wore it in Qatar.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino with the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani on April 1, 2022. (Credit: François-Xavier MARIT / AFP via Getty Images)
This hasn't entirely deterred some players from trying to express their feelings about the 'OneLove' controversy in other ways.
Germany's players put their hands over their mouths before their match against Japan, saying FIFA had prevented them from using their voices to speak on certain issues at the World Cup.
The Danish Football Association was equally aggrieved by the situation.
"We are trying to put pressure on FIFA on this issue," Jensen said.
"We wrote to FIFA on September 19 [about the wearing of the 'OneLove' armband]. We received a reply on the same day England were playing their game."
"I find it very unsatisfactory... We kept pushing, but we did everything possible before the games and FIFA was very late."
CNN has already contacted FIFA regarding criticism of its response to the "OneLove" campaign, but has not received a response.
Before countries announced their captains would not wear the armband in Qatar, FIFA had launched its own "No Discrimination" campaign, saying all 32 captains would have the chance to wear a campaign-related armband.
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The "OneLove" bracelet isn't the only outfit not accepted at the World Cup.
American journalist Grant Wahl and former Wales captain Laura McAllister testified that they were asked to remove their rainbow-colored clothing, a symbol of LGBTQ rights.
Wahl said he was released 25 minutes after being detained and received an apology from a FIFA representative and a senior member of the stadium's security team.
Asked to clarify what the dress code is for fans, FIFA referred CNN to the tournament manual, which states that "ex-pats and tourists are free to wear whatever clothing they like, as long as be modest and respectful of the culture".
Qatar's organizing committee, for its part, has vowed in the past to host an "inclusive and discrimination-free" World Cup in the face of Western criticism of its anti-LGBTQ laws, criticism that Infantino, speaking broadly about the record of Qatar's human rights, branded them "hypocrites" before the tournament.
But as for the "OneLove" bracelet, the widespread impression is that football has missed an open goal when it comes to showing solidarity with the LGBTQ community.
Ward acknowledged that the inclusion of the LGBTQ community in the Middle East was "absolutely not going to be solved with a bracelet", but added that this was an opportunity to show "that football is a game that has changed".
"What does it mean in 2022," she wondered, "to have the opportunity to celebrate LGBT inclusion and instead sweep it under the rug?"
CNN's Becky Anderson and Christiane Amanpour contributed reporting.
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