The German national team demonstrated against FIFA censorship during their World Cup debut match in Qatar, against Japan.
It was four in the afternoon in Doha when, after the ceremonial hymns for the teams' presentation, the eleven German starters posed for the photographers covering their mouths.
They thus responded to the ban issued by the International Federation this week, ordering players not to wear symbols of political content in public, in line with the Government of Qatar, whose laws criminalize homosexuality and freedom of expression in regards, for example, the Emir and his family.
“We wanted to send the message that FIFA is silencing us,” Germany coach Hansi Flick said after the game.
Faced with the attempt by the captains of the Netherlands, Germany, England, Belgium, Wales, Denmark, France and Switzerland to wear a bracelet that expressed the claim for the rights of gay and LGTBI minorities, the body that regulates world football threatened to sanctions.
FIFA, organizer of the most controversial World Cup in history after Argentina 78, warned the federations that wearing the bracelet would imply an immediate yellow card for their captains, in addition to financial fines.
Virgil van Dijk, the captain of the Netherlands, and Harry Kane, the captain of England, among others, backed down.
Manuel Neuer, the German captain, threatened to resist and pay the fine out of his own pocket, if necessary, according to sources close to the German team.
The pressures of the sponsors of the German federation multiplied between Monday and Wednesday.
Finally, the starting players chose to demonstrate by covering their mouths in protest against what they believe constitutes a deprivation of their exercise of the fundamental right to free expression during the World Cup in Qatar.
The German captain ended up wearing the black bracelet authorized by FIFA with the slogan
No discrimination
, a campaign promoted by the international organization in defense of multiple social causes and to avoid direct criticism of the emirate.
Neuer also wore that bracelet, black, under the short-sleeved shirt, not above.
That led the match referee to demand that he be more visible.
Already on the eve of the match, the director of the German team, Oliver Bierhoff, denounced FIFA's ban on the
One Love
inclusive bracelet as censorship .
Bierhoff's protest, runner-up in the world with Germany in the 2002 World Cup, is at the origin of the gesture of covering the players' mouths in the official photo of the match.
In the box, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser wore the 'One Love' armband, sitting next to German Football Federation President Bernd Neuendorf.
#OneLove pic.twitter.com/L5itnDJcsI
— Nancy Faeser (@NancyFaeser) November 23, 2022
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