After receiving a warning from FIFA that they would be subject to punishment, England has opted not to wear the One Love rainbow armbands for their opening World Cup match against Iran.
England and eight other teams have initially planned to wear the armbands as an equality gesture for the LGBT+ community.
However, the Three Lions have backed down after being told players face bookings and even bans for doing so.
England, Wales, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, and Denmark issued a united statement expressing they were “very frustrated” with FIFA’s stance, which they called “unprecedented.”
England, Germany, Netherlands and other European nations will not wear the OneLove armband at the World Cup because of the threat of sporting sanctions pic.twitter.com/Lwunmb9JJQ
— B/R Football (@brfootball) November 21, 2022
“FIFA has been very clear that it will impose sporting sanctions if our captains wear the armbands on the field of play,” the statement read.
“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.
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“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 One Love 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.”
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