Football World Cup: Why did European teams ditch 'One Love' armband? Details revealed

Seven European football teams have agreed to ditch the 'One Love' armband at the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar after they were threatened with being booked. The teams released a joint statement, in which they expressed their unhappiness with FIFA's decision, stating that it was 'unprecedented.'

As per FIFA's decision, the captains of seven European teams - England, Wales, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany and Denmark - would be shown yellow cards if they were to wear the 'One Love' armband. The aim of this armband is to promote diversity and inclusion in Qatar, a country where homosexuality is illegal.

Why did European teams ditch 'One Love' armband?

The Football Associations of seven European countries released a joint statement to explain why they could not put their captains at risk by permitting them to wear the 'One Love' armband. The statement read,

"FIFA has been very clear that it will impose sporting sanctions if our captains wear the armbands on the field of play. As national federations, we can't put our players in a position where they could face sporting sanctions including bookings, so we have asked the captains not to attempt to wear the armbands in FIFA World Cup games."

The associations then went on to reveal their frustration with FIFA's decision by adding, "We are very frustrated by the FIFA decision which we believe is unprecedented - we wrote to FIFA in September informing them of our wish to wear the One Love armband to actively support inclusion in football, and had no response."

In another statement, the Dutch football federation added, "Our number one priority at the World Cup is to win the games...Then you don’t want the captain to start the match with a yellow card." Amid the massive criticism surrounding human rights violations in Qatar, the world football governing body FIFA said that the captains of all teams can wear an armband with the 'No Discrimination' slogan from the quarter-final stage of the World Cup.