The German FA are considering gaining legal protection against any potential sanctions by FIFA for wearing ‘OneLove’ armbands at the World Cup.
They are looking into going to the ad-hoc division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to ask for an injunction against any sporting sanctions by FIFA if the armband was worn by German players, and have explored their legal position on the matter.
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On Monday lunchtime, just a matter of hours before England were due to begin their World Cup campaign against Iran, a group of seven European football associations issued a joint statement to say they had backed down on a pledge to wear a ‘OneLove’ armband at the tournament in Qatar.
This was because FIFA said the armbands violated its strict uniform rules for the tournament. This meant the countries could have faced sanctions, including those of a sporting nature for wearing the armband. This could have included — according to FIFA’s rulebook — players being given an automatic yellow card.
Instead, FIFA announced they were going to allow captains to wear a ‘No Discrimination’ armband throughout the entire World Cup, which was originally going to be distributed for the quarter-final stage. England captain Harry Kane wore the FIFA-approved armband during his side’s 6-2 victory against Iran on Monday.
Speaking on FIFA’s stance regarding the ‘OneLove’ armband, Germany head coach Hansi Flick told reporters: “We would have accepted yellow cards. We could have had different captains for every game.
“But we didn’t know what the sanctions would be. It’s a shame one cannot take a stand for human rights anymore.
“The players are unhappy and shocked.”
The ‘OneLove’ campaign was started prior to Euro 2020 and was supported by the national teams of Belgium, Denmark, Germany, England, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Wales, Sweden and Switzerland.
Kane wore the armband in both of England’s Nations League matches in September. In the same month, the FA wrote to FIFA along with a number of other European nations to say that they intended to support the campaign at the World Cup. And, at one point, there was optimism that these nations would receive formal permission to wear the design.
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The campaign was initially started by the Dutch Football Association, who say “the creators want to express their support for unification of all people and at the same time they want to speak out against all forms of discrimination”.
The armband, which does not specifically reference homophobia or any other forms of discrimination, is a multicoloured design with the words ‘OneLove’ and a number 1 inside a heart.
Same-sex relationships and the promotion of same-sex relationships are criminalised in Qatar.
(Photo: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile via Getty Images)