FIFA received a request yesterday (Wednesday) from several European football associations who want their captains to wear a headband with a rainbow heart design during the World Cup matches in Qatar, as part of an anti-discrimination campaign.
France and Germany, the two recent World Cup champions, were among eight of the 13 European soccer teams that qualified for the World Cup and joined the "OneLove" campaign, which began in the Netherlands.
According to FIFA rules, the national teams are prohibited from bringing their own designed captain's armbands to the tournament, and the organization insists that it be the one to issue the equipment to the national teams, as was customary in the past.
The captain's armbands are the latest battleground for players to push political messages linked to the World Cup to be held in Qatar, where anything related to the LGBT community is illegal, and the treatment of migrant workers building projects for the tournament has been controversial for a decade. "Wearing the armband together on behalf of our national teams will send a clear message as the world watches." , England captain Harry Kane said in a statement.
Harry Kane.
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The Swiss Confederation said it wanted captain Granit Xhaka to wear an armband on which "you can see a heart with varied colors representing the diversity of humanity".
The campaign was launched one day after the Emir of Qatar spoke at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, promising a World Cup without discrimination. "The people of Qatar will welcome football fans with open arms in all walks of life," Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani said in a speech to world leaders. others.
The eight European teams backing the "OneLove" human rights campaign also included Belgium and Denmark.
The other five European qualifiers are: Croatia, Poland, Portugal, Serbia and Spain.
However, Poland captain Robert Lewandowski, the FIFA player of the year, said this week that he intends to wear a ribbon in the blue and yellow colors of the Ukrainian flag to Qatar.
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