England have confirmed captain Harry Kane will no longer be wearing a 'OneLove' armband in the World Cup opener with Iran on Monday. The Three Lions skipper was due to wear the armband to promote diversity and inclusion in Qatar, where same-sex relationships are outlawed.
England, Wales and seven other countries announced they were committing to donning the armband in the build-up to the tournament. However, after being threatened with yellow cards by governing body FIFA, the FA have now released a statement explaining the gesture has been dropped.
The statement read: "FIFA has been very clear that it will impose sporting sanctions if our captains wear the armbands on the field of play. As national federations, we can’t put our players in a position where they could face sporting sanctions including bookings, so we have asked the captains not to attempt to wear the armbands in FIFA World Cup games.
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"We were prepared to pay fines that would normally apply to breaches of kit regulations and had a strong commitment to wearing the armband. However, we cannot put our players in the situation where they might be booked or even forced to leave the field of play.
"We are very frustrated by the FIFA decision which we believe is unprecedented – we wrote to FIFA in September informing them of our wish to wear the One Love armband to actively support inclusion in football, and had no response. Our players and coaches are disappointed – they are strong supporters of inclusion and will show support in other ways."
Kane was asked about the gesture over the weekend and explained his desire to take a stand in the Middle East country. The decision came early on Monday, just hours before England's opener in the Gulf State.
"I think we’ve made it clear as a team and a staff and organisation that we want to wear the armband," Kane said. "I know the FA are talking to FIFA at the moment, and I’m sure by game-time tomorrow they will have their decision. But, yeah, I think we’ve made it clear that we want to wear it."
England are still planning to take the knee during World Cup games this winter after Gareth Southgate discussed the idea with his 26-man squad. The pre-match gesture is seldom seen in the Premier League these days but the idea enjoyed support in the England dressing room.
"Of course we understand in the Premier League that the clubs have decided to only do that for certain games, big occasions," Southgate said. "We feel this is the biggest and we think it's a strong statement that will go around the world for young people, in particular, to see that inclusivity is very important."
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