There is no truth to rumors that the Danish Football Association (DBU) is planning to leave FIFA following a storm over the “OneLove” armband, the association has told Reuters.
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Media reports surfaced on Wednesday following a news conference that DBU president Jesper Moeller had said the FA was considering pulling out of the governing body for world football after Denmark and six other European teams were threatened with sporting sanctions if they wore the armband.
“Some media have made the misunderstanding that DBU will withdraw from FIFA,” DBU head of communications Jakob Hoejer told Reuters in a WhatsApp message.
“That was not said at the press conference. We’re critical and not satisfied and we’ll not vote for the present FIFA president (Gianni Infantino). We will discuss further actions with our Nordic and European colleagues.”
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At the news conference earlier on Wednesday, the Danish FA revealed that FIFA had threatened sporting sanctions such as yellow cards “at a minimum” for wearing the armband, which is part of a campaign to support diversity. As a result the seven European nations that had planned to wear it – Denmark, England, Wales, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, and Netherlands – ditched the idea.
Instead, the German players held their hands over their mouths to protest at being silenced by FIFA ahead of their opener against Japan on Wednesday. German interior minister Nancy Faeser wore the “OneLove” armband while seated next to FIFA president Infantino at the game, with the German football association saying in a statement that “denying us the armband is the same as denying us a voice”.
