Germany players appeared to make their feelings pretty clear with a gesture before the beginning of today’s World Cup game against Japan.
See below as everyone in the German national team’s line up posed with a hand over their mouth, which is being taken as a reference to them being silenced by FIFA, who threatened the punishment of a yellow card for a team captain wearing the OneLove armband…
Homosexuality is illegal in host nation Qatar, which has made the Gulf state a controversial host for this year’s tournament, and it seems as much is being done by the authorities as possible to stop anyone protesting against this.
Some will argue the players should’ve just taken the yellow card for wearing the armband, but it’s still good to see Germany’s players show in some way that they’re not happy with the situation.
UPDATE: There has now been a statement to confirm the meaning behind the protest…
We wanted to use our captain’s armband to take a stand for values that we hold in the Germany national team: diversity and mutual respect. Together with other nations, we wanted our voice to be heard.
— Germany (@DFB_Team_EN) November 23, 2022
Germany’s Twitter account stated: “We wanted to use our captain’s armband to take a stand for values that we hold in the Germany national team: diversity and mutual respect. Together with other nations, we wanted our voice to be heard.
“It wasn’t about making a political statement – human rights are non-negotiable. That should be taken for granted, but it still isn’t the case. That’s why this message is so important to us. Denying us the armband is the same as denying us a voice. We stand by our position.”