EDITORIAL | Fifa’s LGBTQI stance at Fiefdom World Cup is cowardly greed

By stamping down on a plan by seven European World Cup captains to wear the OneLove armband at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar Fifa has taken a controversial stance that will be viewed by many as deplorable towards LGBTQI and human rights.

The captains of England, Wales, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany and Denmark will not wear the armbands after Fifa made it clear they would be booked, the associations said in a joint statement on Monday.

Previously the FAs of those countries were willing to pay the fine that normally applies to breaches of kit regulations. Then Fifa moved the goalposts.

“You don't want the captain to start the match with a yellow card. That is why it is with a heavy heart that we as a Uefa working group ... and as a team had to abandon our plan,” the Dutch football association KNVB said in a statement.

SA has memories of how heavy-handed Fifa were in laying down the law of how things would work when this country hosted the 2010 World Cup. It seems there are hosts, and there are hosts.

Fifa’s stance is obviously controversial in that itbows to the will of the World Cup hosts , whose poor human and workers rights record and policy of criminalising homosexuality have made Qatar the most contentious destination of the world’s greatest sporting spectacle.

But there are levels to Fifa’s action, too. SA remembers how heavy-handed Fifa were in laying down the law when this country hosted the 2010 World Cup. It seems there are hosts, and there are hosts.

The apparent difference in approach between an African host of the tournament and a mega-wealthy Middle Eastern one, seems to reinforce what should already be known by Fifa’s track record — money talks for the global ruling body.

Qatar is a sovereign country and has the right to form its own laws. Activists globally also have the right to question and oppose the humanity of such laws.

And the football teams and their players taking part in the World Cup should have the same right.

Fifa, with the letter sent on behalf of president Gianni Infantino ahead of the tournament asking for teams at the tournament to concentrate on sport not politics and other issues, and this latest move, has taken a side.

The OneLove armband represents not just LGBTQI rights but inclusivity for all.

By effectively banning it Fifa, an association criticised for saying it strives to tackle issues such as racism but whose action too often resembles window-dressing, abandoned the interests of scruples, decency and human rights. It sent a message to the LGBTQI community in particular, but most oppressed people too, that money means more to Fifa than their right to campaign for their freedoms and inclusivity.