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Several team captains of World Cup teams were planning to wear “OneLove” pro-LGBTQ armbands during their opening games at the tournament, but an announcement by FIFA that it would penalize the players with yellow cards has stymied the effort.
The national federations of England, Wales, Belgium, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands had said they were prepared to pay a fine for their captains to wear the rainbow armband. Harry Kane of England was one of the captains who had said he wanted to wear the armband to show support for the LGBTQ community in Qatar, where homosexuality is criminalized.
“FIFA has been very clear that it will impose sporting sanctions if our captains wear the armbands on the field of play,” reads a joint statement from the countries’ soccer associations.
