As if the scrutiny about the World Cup host being Qatar wasn’t enough. On Thursday, the world football’s governing body announced they will not allow Denmark to wear the jerseys they want.
According to the Danish football federation (DBU), FIFA rejected a bid by Denmark’s men’s national team to strut pro-human rights jerseys in training.
The organization abandoned Denmark’s request to wear jerseys that flaunt the message “Human Rights for All.”
“For me, this is a jersey with a very simple message about universal human rights,” said Jakob Jensen, DBU director.
The DBU wasn’t happy about the verdict but they are planning to comply with the requests of FIFA in order to avoid any chance of sanctions or fines.
“We have sent a request to FIFA, but the response is negative. We regret that, but we have to take it into account,” said Jensen.
FIFA as an organization prohibits all political messages. They even went as far as to announce that teams should “focus on football” rather than politics.
For the last few months, the host country of the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar has faced an abundance of criticism for the treatment of foreign workers, the violation of human rights and corruption. Women’s and LGBTQ+ rights have also been a recurring issue in the Middle Eastern country.
