England captain Harry Kane is not going to put on a pro-LGBTQ+ armband Monday, throughout England’s opening match in opposition to Iran on the 2022 Qatar World Cup.

Together with six different European international locations, England dropped plans for the captain to put on a “One Love” armband as a consequence of FIFA’s risk of “sporting sanctions” — seemingly yellow playing cards for offending gamers. Homosexuality is against the law in Qatar.

“We can not put our gamers within the state of affairs the place they is perhaps booked and even compelled to go away the sphere of play,” a joint assertion from the Soccer Associations of England, Wales, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland reads. The group of groups added that they’re “very annoyed” after a letter despatched to world soccer governing physique FIFA in September informing concerning the want to put on the armband went unanswered.

Over the weekend, the German and Danish groups had vowed that their captains would put on the armband, however these international locations have now reversed their place.

Qatar has confronted criticism ever because it was awarded the event in 2010 for its remedy of migrant employees, in addition to its stance on the LGBTQ+ group and girls’s rights.

The armband row follows different debates over strict guidelines on the Qatar World Cup, together with a controversial last-minute choice to ban the sale of alcohol in match stadiums.

On Saturday, FIFA President Gianni Infantino blasted Western critics of Qatar’s internet hosting of the World Cup, accusing them of “hypocrisy” earlier than the beginning of the worldwide soccer event.

Slamming FIFA and Qatar’s critics for double requirements, Infantino stated: “I believe for what we Europeans have been doing within the final 3,000 years world wide, we must be apologizing for the following 3,000 years, earlier than beginning to give ethical classes to individuals.”