England and several other nations have announced that they will not make their captains wear the OneLove captain’s armband during the World Cup.
It was revealed on Sunday that Fifa would clamp down on teams who were not going to use their specifically-issued armlets for the tournament in Qatar. It was reported that the governing body were going to impose sporting sanctions such as bookings before kick-off to those who wore the OneLove branded circlet.
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A joint statement from the Football Associations of England, Wales, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland read: “Fifa has been very clear that it will impose sporting sanctions if our captains wear the armbands on the field of play.
“As national federations, we can’t put our players in a position where they could face sporting sanctions including bookings, so we have asked the captains not to attempt to wear the armbands in FIFA World Cup games.
"We were prepared to pay fines that would normally apply to breaches of kit regulations and had a strong commitment to wearing the armband. However, we cannot put our players in the situation where they might be booked or even forced to leave the field of play.
"We are very frustrated by the FIFA decision which we believe is unprecedented – we wrote to FIFA in September informing them of our wish to wear the OneLove armband to actively support inclusion in football, and had no response. Our players and coaches are disappointed – they are strong supporters of inclusion and will show support in other ways."
Earlier on Monday, FA chief executive Mark Bullingham said discussions were ongoing with Fifa about the use of the band.
Bullingham appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme on Monday morning to give listeners an update on the situation following the reports of potential sanctions.
He said: "We've been clear that we want to wear the armband. It is important to us, but equally we need to work through all the discussions right now and see where we end up.
"We're very keen to wear the armband, we want to do it, but we need to consider the implications. Normally, in this kind of situation, there'd be a fine and we've said we'd be prepared to pay that, because we think it's important to show our support for inclusion.
"If the sporting sanction threat is real then we need to look at that, step back and work out if there's another way in which we can show our values."
While the respective associations have revealed that they will not enforce their captains to wear the OneLove armlet, it is perceived that it is down to the individuals whether or not they proceed to make a statement.
