The underside of FIFA’s ban on the wearing of the “One Love” captain’s armband remains opaque. As the International Federation explained, the national federations simply did not file the adequate request for this purpose.
There have been all kinds ofqueries” on this subject, but the federations have not filed the “official request“necessary for a possible authorization, explained FIFA, very ingenious in legal matters.
The story of FIFA’s alleged pressure is also unclear. Shortly before the start of the World Cup, FIFA had banned the wearing of the multicolored headband by referring to the equipment requirements. As a penalty, the captains would have each received a yellow card. Some federations, including the Swiss Football Association, had however reported having been “massively put under pressureby FIFA.
The threat of the yellow card to deter wearing it
Later, ASF president Dominique Blanc said that no sanction other than the yellow card had been announced by FIFA. Adrian Arnold, ASF’s head of communications, meanwhile said: “It was made very clear that there would be a yellow card or even tougher penalties“.
Subsequently, the ASF and the 6 other associations involved renounced the action of the armband, which was intended to be a message of diversity and tolerance, because of the sporting disadvantages which threatened them.
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