FIFA Pushes European Players to Drop Plans to Wear Armbands
2022-11-22
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1The soccer organizations of seven European countries said their team captains will not wear a colorful armband at the soccer World Cup in Qatar.
2A captain is a player who leads the team on the field.
3The team leaders from England, Wales, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany and Denmark had planned to wear the 'OneLove' armbands on the field.
4The armband was to show support for diversity and inclusion.
5But on Sunday, before the first European team was to play, soccer governing body FIFA said players who wore the 'OneLove' armband would be punished with a yellow card.
6A yellow card is usually given to players who break rules or make illegal plays.
7If players get two yellow cards, they are forced out of the game.
8The captains and their national organizations said it was too risky to start their most important games in many years with a yellow card.
9In a statement sent Monday, the European countries said their players would not wear the armbands.
10They said, "FIFA has been very clear that it will impose sporting sanctions if our captains wear the armbands on the field of play."
11Harry Kane is the captain for England. He said on Sunday that he wanted to wear the armband.
12But when the game against Iran began on Monday, he was not wearing it.
13The Netherlands played Senegal on Monday and the country's soccer organization said it gave up the plan because "you don't want the captain to start the match with a yellow card."
14The move was criticized by groups representing the LGBT community.
15LGBT is the shortened form of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender.
163LionsPride, a group of England fans, said the captain's "basic rights to freedom of speech and expression are being crushed by FIFA."
17And England's Football Supporters' Association added:
18"Today we feel contempt for an organization that has shown its true values by giving the yellow card to players and the red card to tolerance."
19The human rights group Amnesty International said "FIFA should be leading, not cracking down on" issues such as diversity and inclusion.
20The statement from the European teams said they were "very frustrated" by the FIFA decision.
21It came days after FIFA president Gianni Infantino said "... I feel gay" while defending the decision to hold the World Cup in Qatar. It is a country where homosexuality remains illegal.
22They said they wrote to FIFA in September to tell of its plan "to actively support inclusion in football, and had no response."
23The group added that "our players and coaches are disappointed - they are strong supporters of inclusion and will show support in other ways."
24For the World Cup, FIFA started its own armband plan to support different causes.
25After the decision on Sunday, FIFA said it would move its "no discrimination" armband plan up so all 32 captains would be able to wear it.
26FIFA said in a statement that under its rules, "the captain of each team must wear the captain's armband provided by FIFA."
27Stan Collymore is a former player for the England team.
28He said Kane should wear the original armband and take the yellow card.
29"It's about more than football," he wrote on Twitter.
30I'm Dan Friedell.
1The soccer organizations of seven European countries said their team captains will not wear a colorful armband at the soccer World Cup in Qatar. A captain is a player who leads the team on the field. 2The team leaders from England, Wales, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany and Denmark had planned to wear the 'OneLove' armbands on the field. The armband was to show support for diversity and inclusion. 3But on Sunday, before the first European team was to play, soccer governing body FIFA said players who wore the 'OneLove' armband would be punished with a yellow card. 4A yellow card is usually given to players who break rules or make illegal plays. If players get two yellow cards, they are forced out of the game. 5The captains and their national organizations said it was too risky to start their most important games in many years with a yellow card. In a statement sent Monday, the European countries said their players would not wear the armbands. They said, "FIFA has been very clear that it will impose sporting sanctions if our captains wear the armbands on the field of play." 6Harry Kane is the captain for England. He said on Sunday that he wanted to wear the armband. But when the game against Iran began on Monday, he was not wearing it. 7The Netherlands played Senegal on Monday and the country's soccer organization said it gave up the plan because "you don't want the captain to start the match with a yellow card." 8The move was criticized by groups representing the LGBT community. LGBT is the shortened form of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. 93LionsPride, a group of England fans, said the captain's "basic rights to freedom of speech and expression are being crushed by FIFA." And England's Football Supporters' Association added: "Today we feel contempt for an organization that has shown its true values by giving the yellow card to players and the red card to tolerance." 10The human rights group Amnesty International said "FIFA should be leading, not cracking down on" issues such as diversity and inclusion. 11No response from FIFA 12The statement from the European teams said they were "very frustrated" by the FIFA decision. It came days after FIFA president Gianni Infantino said "... I feel gay" while defending the decision to hold the World Cup in Qatar. It is a country where homosexuality remains illegal. 13They said they wrote to FIFA in September to tell of its plan "to actively support inclusion in football, and had no response." The group added that "our players and coaches are disappointed - they are strong supporters of inclusion and will show support in other ways." 14For the World Cup, FIFA started its own armband plan to support different causes. After the decision on Sunday, FIFA said it would move its "no discrimination" armband plan up so all 32 captains would be able to wear it. FIFA said in a statement that under its rules, "the captain of each team must wear the captain's armband provided by FIFA." 15Stan Collymore is a former player for the England team. He said Kane should wear the original armband and take the yellow card. "It's about more than football," he wrote on Twitter. 16I'm Dan Friedell. 17Dan Friedell adapted this story for VOA Learning English based on a report by Reuters. 18_______________________________________________________________ 19Words in This Story 20diversity -n. the quality of having many different people, races or cultures in a group or organization 21inclusion -n. the act of making someone part of something 22sanction -n. a punishment or restriction placed on one group 23tolerance -n. the idea of being accepting of ideas or people different from your own 24crack down -v. to punish or restrict something 25homosexuality -n. the state of being romantically attracted to someone of the same sex 26coach-n. the leader or manager of a sports team 27______________________________________________________________ 28We want to hear from you. What is your reaction to FIFA's decision to ban the armbands from the European players? 29We have a new comment system. Here is how it works: 30Each time you return to comment on the Learning English site, you can use your account and see your comments and replies to them. Our comment policy is here.