England and Wales are on collision course with FIFA after a huge row kicked-off about the captain’s armband.
Both the Three Lions’ Harry Kane and Red Dragon’s Gareth Bale will defy the game’s governing body to promote a ‘One Love’ message. That was a move by those respective nations to show their continued support to the LGBTQ+ community and raise awareness about the discrimination people face in Qatar. The rainbow-coloured armband is part of an anti-discrimination initiative; same-sex relationships are currently outlawed in Qatar, with homosexuality even punishable by death under laws in the country.
FIFA decided to unveil their own range of armbands on Saturday after partnering with United Nations agencies to promote different messages throughout each round of the tournament. But both England and Wales have confirmed their commitment to the ‘One Love’ campaign and both countries are determined that both Kane and Bale will be sporting the symbol for their World Cup openers against Iran and the United States respectively on Tuesday.
The FA said in a statement: "We respect the FIFA armband but we are committed to the OneLove armband and intent to wear it."
England chief executive Mark Bullingham confirmed before the players travelled to Qatar that his organisation was prepared to take a stand against FIFA - even if they are called to account over their stance.
Nine countries have so far confirmed their commitment to the campaign - with both England and Wales now likely to be fined for their refusal to follow FIFA’s protocol. The majority of the FIFA-proposed armbands now introduced do not reference any anti-discrimination campaign.
In the first round of group matches, FIFA have proposed that captain’s wear an armband with the message #FootballUnitesTheWorld before changing for the second round of group games to wear the message #SaveThePlanet. FIFA’s idea is that the concluding round of group games should have the message #ProtectChildren #ShareTheMeal on captain’s armbands.
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These generic and rather vague messages continue into the knockout rounds of the competition, with the hashtags #EducationForAll and #FootballForSchools have been suggested for the Round of 16 games. The quarter-finals will have the message #NoDiscrimination – the first message referencing discrimination throughout the initiative.
The semi-final stage of the competition sees FIFA want to bring the message to fans of #BeActive and #BringTheMoves while the third place playoff and final will say: Football is joy, passion, hope, love and peace #FootballUnitesTheWorld. This development was not known to the English FA and other football federations until late on Friday night, when they received correspondence from FIFA that this was their idea for the tournament.
England captain Kane has insisted that he was ready to wear the 'OneLove' armband regardless of FIFA's stance. "We've decided we want to wear it and that's our thought process going forward," the Tottenham striker said in October.
"It'll be down to FIFA and the FA - I'm sure they'll be in contact with them. I haven't heard anything personally yet so at the moment we're in line to wear it so if anything changes we'll cross that bridge when it comes."
Wales captain Bale has also confirmed his plans to wear the OneLove armband: "I think us as footballers, the most we can do is make awareness and it's for people higher up to make those decisions, and hopefully make the change for the better, but yeah we support everything. In terms of the armband.
"We'll be supporting everything and doing as much as we can to hopefully get change in the right way."
