Danish Men’s Team Forbidden By FIFA From Wearing Pro-Human Rights Shirts At World Cup Qatar 2022

FIFA has prohibited Denmark on Thursday from wearing their training jerseys that advocate a pro-human rights message, as criticisms regarding Qatar’s human rights violations and treatment of foreign migrant workers continue to mount.

The Danish football federation (DBU) has said that FIFA has prohibited them from wearing their training jerseys that says “Human Rights for All”. FIFA as an organization has a policy prohibiting the usage of political slogans and statements in general, claiming to want to “focus on football” rather than political agendas or messaging, according to NBC 4.

DBU director Jakob Jensen is reportedly saddened by the negative response of the FIFA organization regarding the message, saying he believes that “the message Human Rights for All is universal and is not a political call,” CNN reported. Despite the unhappiness that he has over FIFA’s decision to prohibit the training jersey from being used, the football club shall comply with the ruling in order to avoid any possible fines or sanctions that might be levied against them by the organization for their noncompliance. “We have sent a request to FIFA, but the response is negative. We regret that, but we have to take it into account,” he said.

The Danish team has been outspoken in their protest regarding the 2022 FIFA World Cup being awarded to and happening in Qatar. Their kit manufacturer Hummel reportedly has an all-black ensemble that represents the “color of mourning” and was made as a protest related to the human rights abuses that happened in the World Cup. “We don’t wish to be visible during a tournament that has cost thousands of people their lives,” they said in a statement.

Since being awarded the World Cup a decade ago, the Qatari government has experienced a fierce and increasing amount of backlash and criticisms for the alleged human rights abuses and violations in the country in the lead-up to the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Among the violations that had happened are the reported ill treatment of foreign migrant workers, as well as the general state of human rights in the Gulf state related to the rights of women and LGBTQ individuals.

Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter, whose administration had awarded Qatar the World Cup in 2010, has recently called the decision “a mistake.” He himself has been accused of corruption during his tenure as FIFA’s president, though he has been cleared of fraud charges related to it, ESPN reported.