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Netherlands captain Virgil van Dijk has responded to criticism accusing European teams at the World Cup of not having a “backbone” after they decided not to wear the OneLove captain’s armband.
Captains of seven countries, including England and Wales, have planned to wear the captain’s armband during matches to promote diversity and inclusion.
But The plan was abandoned because of Fifa’s threat of the players being booked.
Instead, the captains wore Fifa-approved ‘No Discrimination’ armbands.
“I play in a position where yellow cards don’t work. I’ve become a footballer and I want to play tournaments like this,” Van Dijk told Dutch broadcaster NOS.
Speaking after the Netherlands’ 2-0 win over Senegal on Monday, the Liverpool midfielder said: “There are people who say we don’t have a backbone, but that’s not how it works.
“We just wanted to play football. I would love to play with that band, but not at the expense of a yellow card.”
The Netherlands started the OneLove campaign ahead of Euro 2020 to promote diversity and inclusion, and as an anti-discrimination message.
Same-sex relationships and promotion of same-sex relationships are criminalized in Qatar.
In a statement on Monday, seven European countries – including Belgium, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland – said they were willing to pay fines for their captains to wear the captain’s armband but were unable to make players their risk of being penalized.
Speaking after 6-2 opening win over IranEngland captain Harry Kane said he was “disappointed” at not being given the captain’s armband, while team-mate Jack Grealish called the decision “a bit stupid”.
On Tuesday, Belgium defender Jan Vertonghen said he did not feel comfortable talking about the topic for fear of being influenced.
“If you make a statement by wearing the captain’s armband, it means you are punishing yourself,” Vertonghen said ahead of Wednesday’s opening World Cup match against Canada.
“I don’t feel comfortable, and that says enough. We were cornered, and I was afraid that if I said something about this, I might not be able to play.” [on Wednesday] And it’s a situation I’ve never been in in football, and I hope I never have to go through it again because it’s not good.”
Countries face ‘extreme blackmail’
Also on Tuesday, the communications director of the German football federation (DFB), Steffen Simon, said seven countries were facing “extreme blackmail”, prompting them to abandon their plans to wear bandages. OneLove captain.
He told German radio station Deutschlandfunk: “The tournament director went to the British team and talked about many rule violations and threatened major sporting sanctions without making it clear what these would be. what.”
Simon said the other six teams then decided to “show solidarity” with England.
“We are in an extreme, extremely dangerous situation and we think we have to make a decision without wanting to do so,” he said, later adding: “I can understand the frustration. We were disappointed. We had a choice between plague and cholera.”
In Germany, supermarket chain Rewe has suspended an advertising contract with DFB to stay away from Fifa.
Rewe told the DFB in October that it would end the partnership but has now done so “with immediate effect” because of Fifa’s “unacceptably scandalous attitude”.
“We support diversity – and football is diversity too. We live with this view and we stand for it,” said Lionel Souque, chief executive officer of Rewe Group.
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