The German FA has suggested that FIFA ‘denied them a voice’ as they staged a powerful protest in their World Cup opener against Japan.
Manuel Neuer was expected to wear the OneLove armband for the game in what was intended to be a show of solidarity with marginalised LGBTQ+ communities in host country Qatar. However, a row broke out ahead of the tournament with FIFA threatening automatic sporting sanctions should they be worn.
That caused an array of countries to back out of the plan including England and the Netherlands, with Germany also following suit. Despite that, Die Mannschaft still chose to make a stand before their clash with Japan as their starting XI lined up for a team photo and each player covered their mouth.
Further protests went on in the stands as German Federal Minister of the Interior and Community Nancy Faeser was spotted wearing her own OneLove armband, joining ex-Lionness Alex Scott in doing so.
The German FA have now explained the gesture with a statement explaining that it was to represent FIFA denying them a voice with their decision behind the armbands. It read: “We wanted to use our captain’s armband to take a stand for values that we hold in the Germany national team: diversity and mutual respect.
“Together with other nations, we wanted our voice to be heard. It wasn’t about making a political statement – human rights are non-negotiable.
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“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.”
Wednesday’s statement is not the first time that the German FA have been particularly outspoken in the direction of FIFA over the opening days of the tournament in Qatar. Steffen Simon, the DFB head of media, previously accused the governing body of “extreme blackmail” due to their delayed decision over the usage of the armbands following a request for talks from the English FA.
He said: “The tournament director went to the English team and talked about multiple rule violations and threatened with massive sporting sanctions without specifying what these would be.
“We lost the armband and it is very painful but we are the same people as before with the same values. We are not impostors who claim they have values and then betray them.
“We were in an extreme situation, in an extreme blackmail and we thought we had to take that decision without wanting to do so.”
