The decision by FIFA to prohibit players from wearing the “OneLove” armband was “extremely disappointing,” a German government official said on Wednesday, before of the national team’s first World Cup match against Japan. LGBTQ people’s rights are non-negotiable,” Steffen Hebestreit remarked at a routine news briefing.
He regretted that “it is simply not feasible to take a position or express a gesture of unity at the FIFA World Cup,” he remarked. Hebestreit said that he believed the armband issue would “positively alter” the attitudes of football associations and large sporting event organizers. The rainbow armbands were seen as a symbolic protest against regulations that make homosexuality illegal in World Cup host Qatar.
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The captains of numerous European countries had intended to wear the emblem as part of a diversity campaign during the event, but they backed down because to the prospect of disciplinary punishment from FIFA, the international football’s governing body. Since then, the teams have been under pressure in their home countries for failing to take a harder position against FIFA’s stance on the armbands.
I guess you’ll have to put on the armband now.” “I’d take my chances,” Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck said on the German public network ZDF on Tuesday evening. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, who will be in Doha for the Germans’ first game, called FIFA’s decision a big mistake. Fans, not just players, should be able to display pro-LGBTQ symbols “openly,” she told reporters in Qatar.
Security personnel at the competition have instructed fans to remove apparel with rainbow insignia. Supporters, on the other hand, should “make a decision for themselves” regarding whether or not to wear the emblems, according to Faeser.
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