Amid all the heated arguments, football’s biggest tournament has begun in Qatar on Sunday. Ecuador beat the hosts in the first game and became the first team to do so in tournament history. But in yet another highlighting point, FIFA tried to end a standoff with European teams about wearing unauthorized captain armbands for an anti-discrimination campaign that draws attention to Qatar.
FIFA urged the teams back down from allowing their captains to wear “One Love” armbands — a heart-shaped multi-colored logo aimed at exposing the host country’s record on human rights.
There was even a meeting of FIFA with the European teams to not wear these bands but the organisers failed to convince the teams.
“I think we’ve made it clear that we want to wear it,” England captain Harry Kane ahead of playing Iran.
Wales coach Robert Page said it will be “no different for us” at the late game on Monday against the United States.
“We will stay with the European position,” German soccer federation president Bernd Neuendorf said.
German captain Manuel Neuer was one of the firsts to promise to wear the “One Love” armband against Japan on Wednesday.
‘One Love’ campaign promotes the diversity of culture and human rights that seems to be not okay in Qatar.
“FIFA came up with their own armband idea just two days ago. That was not acceptable for us,” Neuendorf said.
However FIFA also denied to comment on the matter and said “committed to using the power of football to effect positive change around the world. For FIFA final competitions, the captain of each team must wear the captain’s armband provided by FIFA.”
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