FIFA Men's World Cup

Seven European teams say they won't wear 'One Love' arm bands

Updated Nov. 21, 2022 4:19 p.m. ET

Seven European teams that wear the "One Love" arm band released a joint statement Monday saying they will not do so at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Facing the threat of having their captains receive a yellow card before the first whistle of the match, England, Wales, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland decided to not wear the arm bands for their matches in Qatar.

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

Monday's statement changes the federations' previous plans to wear the arm bands during matches.

"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," the statement continued.

"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."

A spokesman for the United States men's national team told FOX Sports on Monday that the U.S. wasn’t planning on wearing the "One Love" armbands in question.

The USMNT captain, named Sunday as midfielder Tyler Adams, was always going to don a FIFA-provided armband since the messaging contained on those aligned with the Americans’ "Be the Change" mantra, the spokesman said.

U.S. Soccer has shown its support for the LGBTQ+ community in other ways in Qatar, most notably displaying a rainbow version of the federation’s official crest inside its training facility just outside of Doha.

Both Wales and England play their opening matches later Monday.

England faces Iran at 8 a.m. ET on FS1 and the FOX Sports App.

Wales will play its first World Cup match since 1958, when it takes on the United States at 2 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports App.

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