World Cup officials will reportedly file a complaint to the chairman of the FIFA referees committee over the OneLove armband fiasco.
FIFA threatened to book Harry Kane, Gareth Bale and five other World Cup captains if they wore the OneLove armband - which aims to promote diversity and inclusion - at the tournament in Qatar, which is being viewed as a political move by the organisation.
The OneLove campaign was adopted by England ahead of the World Cup, partly because of Qatar's poor human rights record. Same-sex relationships are outlawed in Qatar and seven other World Cup nations - including Senegal, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Morocco.
Yet the seven nations supporting the OneLove campaign were forced to backdown by FIFA ahead of England's 6-2 victory against Iran on Monday. Those countries will instead adopt FIFA's own armband campaign, which was launched on the eve of the World Cup.
Several players have expressed their disappointment at FIFA thwarting the OneLove campaign and referees are also said to be unhappy with how the situation has unfolded. That's according to the Daily Mail, who claim referees see themselves as 'pawns'.
It's believed a number of big-name officials were astonished when rumours of them being forced to book captains for wearing the OneLove armband emerged ahead of Monday's fixtures. FIFA are not thought to have instructed their referees to do so.
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Yet FIFA did reportedly tell the FA and the six other national bodies that a yellow card would be issued if they wore the OneLove armband. As such, some referees believe they would've been used as political weapons without any prior consultation.
Pierluigi Collina, chairman of the FIFA referees committee, is set to be questioned about the controversy when the officials have their next group meeting. Ex-referee Collina, who officiated the 2002 World Cup final, is not expected to publicly criticise FIFA.
The FA and their colleagues spent two months asking FIFA if they could wear the OneLove armband at the World Cup and didn't receive a response until the very last minute. Even on Monday morning, FA officials still had no idea what FIFA were going to do.
FIFA's own armband campaign promotes environmentalism, education, healthy living, children's safety and anti-discrimination. Yet there is not an armband that specifically promotes LGBT+ rights. It's believed none of those armbands contain rainbow colours, either.
FIFA and Qatar have quashed a number of LGBT+ protests since the World Cup started on Sunday, as an American journalist was initially refused entry into Monday's game between Wales and the United States for wearing a t-shirt showing a rainbow football.
A group of Wales fans wearing rainbow bucket hats had them confiscated before their game against the United States, while Belgium are expected to remove the word 'love' from their rainbow-themed away kit at FIFA's request.
