The jerseys of the players of the Danish national team at the World Cup in Qatar
The International Football Association “FIFA” has rejected Denmark’s request to allow its players participating in the World Cup in Qatar to wear training shirts with human rights slogans.
The Danish Football Association had submitted a request to allow players to wear training shirts bearing the words “Human Rights for All”.
FIFA bans all kinds of political messages and has told teams to “focus on football” at the next World Cup.
The Danish Football Association opposed the description of the shirts as carrying a “political message”, but agreed with FIFA’s decision.
“For me, they are shirts with a very simple message about universal human rights,” Danish Football Association director Jakob Jensen told the local Ritzau news agency.
Qatar was criticized for its stance on homosexuality, its record on human rights and the treatment of migrant workers, just days before the start of the World Cup on 20 November.
Denmark’s shirts were designed to express protest, as the sportswear company Hummel, which supplies the Danish national team, has designed an all-black shirt representing the “color of mourning”.
The rules state that any team’s equipment and clothing must be free of any personal, religious or political emblems, data and images.
“It is FIFA’s right, as the organizer of this tournament, to tell us that we can’t do that. Of course FIFA does it to avoid all kinds of weird things. We don’t think it was that weird,” said the director of the Danish Football Association.
“We don’t think he has any political problems,” added Jensen. “We believe that human rights are universal and we support this vision.”
“FIFA had a different assessment and unfortunately we had to take that into account,” he said.
FIFA has sent a message to the 32 teams participating in the World Cup, urging them not to “drag” football into political or ideological “battles”.
This letter was criticized by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and LGBT rights advocates in England and Wales.The FIFA letter. 10 European football federations opposed the letter, stating that “human rights are universal and apply everywhere”.
England manager Gareth Southgate on Thursday said he was “optimistic” of FIFA, expecting teams to focus only on football-related issues in Qatar.
The captains of 10 European teams will wear badges with the words “One Love” as a message against discrimination.
