England, Wales, the Netherlands and other European nations have backed down from wearing the ‘OneLove’ armband at the FIFA World Cup.
The England team were one of nine to come together in deciding to wear the distinctive OneLove armbands during matches in a bid to support inclusivity and LGBTQ+ rights in Qatar, a country that prohibits same-sex marriage. But with just hours before the Three Lions kick off their campaign against Iran, The FA were involved in a row with FIFA after threats that players wearing the armband could be instantly booked.
A joint statement from the Football Associations of England, Wales, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands said: "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.
