Germany issue statement as players take a stand at Qatar LGBTQ+ laws

Germany players have used their pre-match team photo to call out FIFA after football’s governing body threatened ‘massive’ sporting punishments if captain Manuel Neuer was to wear the OneLove captain’s armband against Japan. The issue has been one of the most controversial of the early days of the World Cup with some European nations looking to make a stand against Qatar’s record on LGBTQ+ rights. 

Captains from Germany, England, Wales, Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands were all set to wear the armband during the tournament in protest at the human rights record of Qatar. However, they were forced to back down after FIFA pledged sporting sanctions including bookings against players making a stand. 

The German FA have claimed they will take the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) as they seek to win approval to wear the armband in their next match against Spain. In the meantime the team have used their pre-match photo in protest, covering their mouths to show that they feel they have been silenced. 

Germany have since released a statement on the picture and doubled down on their stance. It read: “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.”

Germany have lost sponsors over the FIFA directives with supermarket REWE scrapping an advertising campaign they ran with the national team. 

Rewe Group chief executive Lionel Souque released a statement on behalf of the supermarket, slamming FIFA for the action they had taken. He said: “We stand up for diversity – and football is also diversity. We live this position and we defend it.

“FIFA’s scandalous attitude is absolutely unacceptable.”

Germany should have not have long to find out the result of their CAS appeal with the court setting up an ad-hoc committee for the World Cup to make decisions within 48 hours of an application being submitted. 

There had been rumours ahead of the Japan match that Neuer would defy FIFA and wear the armband but complied to wear the governing body’s approved ‘no discrimination’ alternative. The 36-year-old had it vigorously checked by one of the assistant referees right before kick-off to ensure he was complying.