Wembley Stadium, on Friday, lit up in rainbow colors ahead of England national football team's World Cup match against United States, AFP reported. The move comes in support of LGBTQ community. Harry Kane, representing England, was due to be the first captain among European nations to wear the rainbow-themed armbands bearing the message "One Love" in their World Cup match against Iran on Monday.
However, scared from threat of getting sanctions from FIFA, football associations of England, Wales, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland, in a joint statement said, "We cannot put our players in a situation where they could face sporting sanctions including bookings, so we have asked the captains not to wear the armbands in FIFA World Cup games."
Amid the row and FIFA's sanctions threat, Germany team covered their mouths in their team photo in protest for FIFA’s ban of the ‘OneLove’ armband before their match against Japan.
As per report in AFP, English Football Association (FA) have been criticised at home for backing down on wearing the armband.
"Attempting to eradicate discrimination of any kind, including homophobia, from football is something which everyone at The FA believes in strongly and have looked to support for a number of years," the FA said in a statement.
"The FA will continue to show our support to the LGBTQ+ community and all other communities during this tournament and long beyond, starting with lighting up the Wembley Stadium arch in rainbow colours for Friday night's match with the USA. #OneLove #FAForAll."
FIFA has officially refused to sanction the use of 'One Love' armband, which was first initiated by the Dutch FA in 2020 as a campaign in support of LGBTQ+. Although, the armband represents support for equality and it's not only at backing the rights of the LGBTQ+ community, but is significant in Qatar, as homosexuality is illegal.