"We're here to play football and not hand out lessons to anyone."
That's the message from Switzerland captain Granit Xhaka, who explained why his team will not follow Germany 's lead by protesting at the World Cup. Arsenal midfielder Xhaka was one of the captains set to wear the 'OneLove' armband before FIFA threatened the seven federations planning to make a stance on Qatar's discriminative LGBTQ+ laws with sporting sanctions.
Captains were due to receive a yellow card for wearing the armband, a punishment which none of the seven players were willing to stomach ahead of their opening game of the tournament. Germany, however, were the only team to make any kind of statement.
After it emerged that the German FA (DFB) were exploring legal action against FIFA, their players covered their mouths for a team photo ahead of Wednesday's 2-1 loss to Japan, signalling that they'd been gagged.
That kind of protest didn't appeal to Xhaka, though, as the 30-year-old said before his side's 1-0 victory over Cameroon : "I don't think we need to do anything as the Swiss team.
"We need to respect the rules and concentrate on our football, that's all I intend to do. We're here to play football and not hand out lessons to anyone."
While Xhaka's comments explain Switzerland's lack of protest, the Swiss FA still expressed their disappointment at FIFA's threats over the OneLove armband. "It's unfortunate because we wanted to spread a message," a spokesperson declared on Monday.
They added that the decision was made to in the interest of "protecting our player so that he is not disadvantaged in sporting terms."
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Arsenal legend Ian Wright, on the other hand, was pleased to see Germany show their feelings towards FIFA, who've come under intense scrutiny for awarding Qatar - a country with an atrocious human rights record - with the World Cup 12 years ago. "I am delighted for them because they have done something, and it is on a global stage," Wright told ITV.
"It is a global moment for the LGBTQ community to see that people are standing in solidarity with them and that is fantastic. I hope the other teams maybe do the same."
The DFB released a statement following their players' pre-match protest which read: "With our captain's armband, we wanted to set an example for values that we live in the national team: diversity and mutual respect. Be loud together with other nations.
"This is not about a political message: human rights are non-negotiable. That should go without saying. Unfortunately it still isn't. That is why this message is so important to us. Banning us from the armband is like banning our mouths. Our stance stands."
