DOHA, Qatar — Germany players protested FIFA’s suppression of their anti-discrimination messaging with a non-verbal statement of defiance ahead of their 2022 World Cup opener Wednesday.
While posing for a standard pregame photo at the Khalifa International Stadium, all 11 starters cupped their right hands to their mouth, an implicit reference to their Monday statement that FIFA had threatened them with “sporting sanctions” if captain Manuel Neuer wore a “OneLove” armband with a multi-colored heart.
Shortly after the photo was taken, the team’s official Twitter account posted it with the caption:
“It wasn’t about making a political statement – human rights are non-negotiable. That should be taken for granted, but it still isn’t the case. That’s why this message is so important to us.
“Denying us the armband is the same as denying us a voice,” the tweet concluded. “We stand by our position.”
Germany and six other European teams had adopted the armbands in light of Qatari laws that restrict the rights of LGBTQ people, among others. The armbands were part of a broader Dutch-led campaign against discrimination. The colors in the armband’s heart — which are similar, but not identical, to the ones that represent LGBTQ pride — “represent everyone’s pride in their own origin, color, gender identity and sexual orientation,” the KNBV said in September.
The European federations wrote to FIFA that same month to detail their plans. FIFA, though, did not respond to or engage with the European federations until this past weekend, on the eve of the tournament. And when it did, it was “very clear that it will impose sporting sanctions if our captains wear the armbands on the field of play,” the European nations, which also included England, Wales, Belgium, Denmark and Switzerland, said in their statement.
