Other teams are also protesting FIFA’s hasty production
Today’s game against Ghana with a new arm band
Captain Son Heung-min’s (Tottenham) arm band were those cheering for the first leg of Group H against Uruguay on the 24th feeling sorry for them.
He would get tired with just the face shield, but it was because the arm band was sliding down and he couldn’t seem to focus on the game. In the end, Son Heung-min took the armband off and ran with it in his left hand. Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo did the same. German captain Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich) also said, “It’s too loose. It doesn’t seem like it was made by a good company,” he complained.
In fact, this captain’s armband was hastily made to fill in instead of wearing the ‘One Love’ armband with a rainbow colored heart and the number ‘1’ which the captains of seven European teams, including England and the Germany, of wearing. The International Football Federation (FIFA) states that the equipment used by players should not contain phrases or images that have a political or religious meaning. But in reality, this was because Qatar, the host country, openly discriminates against LGBTI people.
FIFA makes the captains of each country’s team play the group stage wearing armbands with slogans such as “#Football to unite the world” and “#Non-discrimination”. The slogans are different for each stage of the tournament. The problem was, because of the rushed production, it kept flowing down and preventing us from concentrating on the game. There were also complaints that there was only one size and that it could not be adjusted.
FIFA eventually decided to redo the armband. An official from the Korea Football Association introduced on the 26th, “We have talked about it, and I know that other teams have also raised issues.” He is expected to wear a new armband in the match against Ghana in the second round of Group H on the 28th.
Senior Correspondent Lim Byung-son