England and Wales are just two countries who are expected to ignore FIFA’s new initiative in order to wear the OneLove’s armband in Qatar.
FIFA have announced that there will be new armbands that have been designed in conjunction with the United Nations, with an armband representing different social topic per round at the 2022 World Cup.
However England and Wales were two of nine countries, also including France, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark and Switzerland , who were planning on having their captains wear the OneLove campaign armband
The Netherlands started the campaign ahead of the Euro 2020 championship to promote an anti-discrimination message.
The BBC reports that the English FA was unaware of FIFA’s plan and comes amid complaints from players, observers and fans about the human rights record of the tournament’s hosts, as well as the restrictive rules in place for visitors, where homosexual relationships are outlawed.
Some fans, supporter organisations and prominent football figures such as Eric Cantona have said that they have chosen to boycott this year’s tournament after they complained about various scandals in Qatar, including the thousands of workers who have reportedly died in poor conditions as they built the infrastructure for the event.
FIFA also made a late change to rules on the sale of alcohol at events, with sales now restricted to licenced hotels, and no alcohol will be sold at stadia or at fan zones, overturning previously advertised conditions.
The planned themes for the FIFA armbands are: #NoDiscrimination, #SaveThePlanet, #ProtectChildren, #EducationForAll and #BeActive.
German football federation president Bernd Neuendorf hit out at FIFA for their efforts to stop teams protesting over human rights at the World Cup, and backed captain Manuel Neuer’s plans to wear the OneLove armband, going on to say that he was prepared for the DFB to be fined by FIFA for the gesture.
On Saturday, Fifa president Gianni Infantino accused the West of “hypocrisy” in its reporting about Qatar’s human rights record.
“Personally, I would be quite prepared to accept a fine,” Neuendorf said in Qatar on Friday to the press. “This is not a political statement, but a statement for human rights.”
