Fifa World Cup: European World Cup teams in tense stand-off over unauthorised ‘One Love’ armband
- World Cup rules say captains must wear an armband provided by Fifa, but several European teams say they are determined to wear the unauthorised armband
- ‘I think we’ve made it clear that we want to wear it,” England captain Harry Kane told a press conference in Doha ahead of playing Iran
In a tense meeting at the World Cup on Sunday, Fifa tried to end a stand-off with European teams about wearing unauthorised captain armbands for an anti-discrimination campaign that draws attention to Qatar.
It didn’t work.
Fifa wanted seven European soccer federations to back down from allowing their captains to wear “One Love” armbands – a heart-shaped multicoloured logo aimed at exposing the host country’s record on human rights.
Fifa failed to persuade the Europeans with a counterproposal announced Saturday, and backed by United Nations agencies, of armbands with socially aware, though generic, slogans.
The urgency of the meeting at a luxury hotel in Doha was because England, the Netherlands and Wales all play Monday in their respective World Cup opening games.
“I think we’ve made it clear that we want to wear it,” England captain Harry Kane said Sunday evening in Doha ahead of playing Iran.