By Dylan Bettencourt
Fifa has decided there is no room for love at the World Cup in Qatar by pulling both the OneLove captains’ armbands and the word “love” from Belgium’s second kit.
Several nations were set to wear the OneLove captain’s armband during their World Cup fixtures despite Fifa not approving the move.
The captains were set to go ahead with the protest regardless, but on Monday it was revealed that the captains would be handed a yellow card before kickoff if they wore the OneLove armband.
Players like Harry Kane and Virgil Van Dijk opted against wearing the armband in fear of being booked before the game had even started.
On Monday, Fifa took it a step further by declaring that the Belgium away kit that shows the word “love” on the inside of the shirt cannot be used, ESPN reported.
“A source told ESPN that Fifa were not even open to negotiation and categorically refused to discuss the matter with the Belgian federation. At the moment, they have not decided whether they will accept the international federation’s request,” the report said.
The Belgian Football Federation responded by saying the team will wear their red home kit for the group stages and deal with the matter if they advance to the knockout stages.
In another incident American journalist Grant Wahl was denied entry into the United States vs Wales fixture because his t-shirt had a rainbow circling a football.
After eventually being allowed into the stadium the security guards told him it was only for his own safety from people inside the stadium who might attack him.
Fifa has long said that everybody is welcome at the tournament but the ban on a simple word like “love” shows that is not the case.
Fifa president Gianni Infantino attempted to defend Qatar’s laws around homosexuality by claiming that a day before the showpiece began he felt “gay”.
“Today I feel Qatari. Today I feel Arab. Today I feel African. Today I feel gay. Today I feel disabled. Today I feel like a migrant worker,” he said as part of an hour-long speech.
Infantino might have felt gay but the very idea of love in every aspect seems to have been barred from the tournament.
Pictured above: Belgium Love Kit
Image source: @Goal
