German FA intends to sue FIFA over one love armband restriction

The DFB Football Federation plans to take action against the regulations during the FIFA World Cup 2022

Controversies arose once more in a FIFA World Cup match during Germany's game when they were prohibited from wearing the one love armband in their opening encounter against Japan.

The German FA intends to take the strongest possible action against FIFA for prohibiting wearing the one love armband during matches, citing the Qatari government's decision to abhor homosexuality.

Following FIFA's decision not to permit players to wear the one love armband, the DFB forbade their players from wearing the armband, which promotes diversity and inclusion, as it may result in a yellow card if the captain violated the rules. Their reaction, however, came from supermarket giant REWE, the first to intervene and threatened to suspend its advertising campaign in protest of the decision.

Stefan Simon, the DFB's spokesperson, had filed a legal challenge to the judgement at the International Sports Court, CAS, in Lausanne.

"Fifa has forbidden us from using a symbol of diversity and human rights. It said the ban would be linked to massive penalties (in the nature of) sporting sanctions without concretising exactly what it meant. The DFB is keen to clarify whether Fifa's procedure is in fact legitimate," he said.

Stefan Simon hopes FIFA will reverse the decision before Germany's game against Spain.

According to a survey, many Germans are prepared to boycott the FIFA World Cup, and spectators, sponsors, and politicians have stated that they will not be watching the games.

Germany's interior minister Nancy Faeser commented FIFA's ban on oneLove armband "massive mistake", "It breaks the heart of every fan to see how Fifa is also putting the burden of this on to the shoulders of the players."

Before the German-Japan match, Germans players ridiculed FIFA by covering their mouths. However, the game culminated in another upset as Japan emerged victorious 2-1.