FIFA threatens yellow card for players wearing 'OneLove' armbands at World Cup

Captains from several European countries will no longer be wearing "OneLove" anti-discrimination armbands at the 2022 World Cup after FIFA threatened to issue yellow cards to any player wearing them. 

England, Wales, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands will all expected to participate in their first matches of the World Cup, with their federations saying they were willing to pay any fines that may be issued for the statement. 

But FIFA threatening a yellow card was apparently a bridge too far, with the federations issuing the following joint statement on Monday.

Via ESPN:

"FIFA has been very clear that it will impose sporting sanctions if our captains wear the armbands on the field of play," a joint statement from the nations read. "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. 

"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 'OneLove' 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."

FIFA will allow players to wear "No Discrimination" armbands during the tournament, an initiative that was supposed to kickoff during the quarterfinal round.

It's definitely a controversial decision for FIFA to threaten players for wearing the OneLove armbands given the political climate around this year's World Cup. 

Qatar has been harshly criticized as a World Cup location given the countries human rights records and its anti-LGBTQ stance.  

The country also does not allow public drunkenness and just days before the tournament began announced it would go back on its plans to allow beer sales at stadiums. 

Just weeks before the tournament began Sepp Blatter, the disgraced former head of FIFA, said that award Qatar the World Cup was a mistake.