Germany posed for their pre-match team photo with all players holding a hand over their mouth before taking on Japan.
The German football federation have revealed that they are considering legal action against FIFA after the governing body warned that 'sporting sanctions' would come as punishment, with players risking a yellow card should they chose to wear them. Suggesting that they feel silenced, every starting Germany player in Hansi Flick's side posed with a clear message for FIFA.
Germany captain Manuel Neuer was set to wear the OneLove armband which FIFA have banned nation captains from wearing and the Bayern Munich star has seemingly abided to the governing body's demands. Harry Kane has admitted that he wanted to still wear the armband, but the English FA intervened and stopped the Three Lions captain from doing so.
READ MORE: Harry Kane explains England decision to not wear OneLove armband amid FA and FIFA pressure
There was widespread reports that Neuer was set to wear the OneLove armband against Japan despite facing sanctions from FIFA if he was to do so. A statement from the Germany national team posted on Twitter read: "We wanted to use our captain’s armband to take a stand for values that we hold in the Germany national team: diversity and mutual respect.
"Together with other nations, we wanted our voice to be heard. It wasn’t about making a political statement – human rights are non-negotiable.
"That should be taken for granted, but it still isn’t the case. That’s why this message is so important to us.
"Denying us the armband is the same as denying us a voice. We stand by our position."
An image from inside the Germany dressing room shows that Neuer has not worn the OneLove armband, with FIFA officials checking before the match kicked off that he had not gone against FIFA's demands. Instead, the Germany captain is wearing the same armband that England's Harry Kane wore against Iran, which is FIFA's 'no discrimination' captain's armband - though Kane's was a dark shade while Neuer's is white.
In a statement from the joint football associations, it was confirmed before England's 6-2 win against Iran in a statement which 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."
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