The German Football Federation (DFB) responded to the criticism it has received for the resigns from wearing the solidarity bracelet in Qatar 2022 and justified the decision by claiming “blackmail” from FIFA.
However, it was announced around the time that the goalkeeper Manuel Neuer will be the only captain in user the multicolored bracelet, which represents the LGBTIQ+ community. This means that the goalkeeper who plays for Bayern Munich will have to pay a fine and will start the game against Japan with a yellow card.
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Before Neuer’s decision became a fact, from Germany they had manifested: “We have not knelt before FIFA. We understand the disappointment and outrage. We were subjected to extreme blackmail in which we thought we had to make this decision even though we didn’t want to make it,” DFB communication director Steffen Simon told Deutschlandfunk broadcaster.
Germany, along with six other teams, had announced that they would wear a bracelet with a heart and with similar colorsalthough not identical, to those of the flag LGBTIQ+.
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However, after FIFA announced sporting sanctions the seven federations reversed that decision which generated harsh criticism in Germany.
“They would have accepted fines, the federations write. But they want to avoid sporting consequences such as a yellow card. For them the bracelet had less value than making a tactical foul in midfield“, the weekly “Die Zeit” wrote in a commentary.
In his newscast on the first German public television channel, ARD – which has the rights to the World Cup together with the second ZDF channel – a comment was broadcast in which he said that for Germany it was better “to lose points and be eliminated in the group stage with the bracelet than to be world champion without the bracelet”.
