Scandal over FIFA ban on rainbow armbands takes a strange turn

Passions far from sports continue to boil around the World Cup in Qatar. At the center of the scandal were attempts by representatives of the West to demonstrate aggressive tolerance towards sexual minorities at all costs. The German Football Federation is suing over FIFA’s ban on the OneLove armband in rainbow colours.

The supermarket chain has severed commercial relations with the German Football Federation (DFB) in protest at the scandal at the World Cup, writes The Guardian.

The German Football Federation has said it plans to take legal action against FIFA over its World Cup ban on OneLove rainbow headbands as it faces a humiliating decision by one of the country’s largest supermarket chains to cut its commercial ties.

The federation refused to allow players in Qatar to wear armbands promoting diversity and inclusiveness following threats from world football’s governing body to issue yellow cards to team captains, but faced a quick response, including from a well-known supermarket chain that said it would stop its promotional campaign to protest this decision.

DFB spokesman Stefan Simon confirmed to the tabloid Bild that he had filed a legal action against the decision with the international sports court CAS in Lausanne.

“FIFA has banned us from using the symbol of diversity and human rights. It stated that the ban would be associated with massive fines (by nature) with sports sanctions, but did not specify what exactly this meant. The DFB is looking to find out if the FIFA procedure is indeed legal,” he said.

Simon said the German Football Federation hopes to lift the ban in time for Germany’s second match against Spain on Sunday, restoring the right of its captain, Manuel Neuer, to wear the OneLove symbol without punishment.

The supermarket chain’s statement ahead of the DFB’s announcement of its legal action referred to an unequivocal desire to distance itself from the position taken by FIFA and a statement made by its president, Gianni Infantino over the weekend, in which he accused the West of “hypocrisy” in regarding the human rights situation in Qatar.

Linoel Suk, chief executive of a Cologne-based retail chain with annual sales of 76.5 billion euros, said the company could not agree with FIFA’s position. “We stand for diversity, and football is diversity. The scandalous behavior of FIFA is absolutely unacceptable for me as the CEO of a diversified company, as well as a football fan, ”he said.

The German football federation’s decision came after FIFA threatened sanctions against participating clubs, including issuing yellow cards to players if they failed to comply. Germany, England, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Wales and Denmark abandoned their plans to allow their captains to wear “rainbow” armbands.

DFB President Bernd Neuendorf said: “In my opinion, this is a kind of show of strength on the part of FIFA. We find this more than disappointing and also unprecedented in World Cup history.”

What is happening, writes The Guardian, reflects the generally gloomy and often angry mood in Germany over the tournament held in Qatar. The protests included street demonstrations and the lighting of 20,000 candles in one stadium over the weekend in memory of the dead Qatari migrant workers, many of whom were in the process of building facilities for the World Cup.

Some German pubs and bars are refusing to broadcast the tournament, while others have announced they will donate alcohol proceeds to charities for migrant workers.

According to polls, more than half of Germans favor a boycott of the World Cup by spectators, sponsors and politicians. Most said they would not watch the matches on television, and the public broadcaster was heavily criticized for paying around €200 million for the rights to broadcast the tournament. Many politicians who were supposed to go to Qatar now don’t.

Nancy Feiser, Germany’s interior minister, called the armband ban “a big mistake” by FIFA. “It breaks every fan’s heart when they see how FIFA puts this burden on the shoulders of the players,” she said.

Theo Zwanziger, former DFB President, told Bild: “I am delighted that the DFB is now defending itself against the extraordinary machinations of FIFA President Gianni Infantino and is turning its case over to CAS. Anything else would only cause additional damage to the authority of the DFB,” he said.