The Danish Soccer Affiliation (DBU) has mentioned that it might not help the re-election of Gianni Infantino as FIFA president after world soccer’s governing physique threatened groups sporting the OneLove armband with a yellow card at a minimal.
Talking at a media briefing on Wednesday, DBU president Jesper Moeller mentioned that he was angered by FIFA’s actions and that the affiliation had dominated out voting for Infantino in subsequent 12 months’s election.
“There is only one candidate, and we’ll have to see if there’s another candidate, there is still time, but Denmark will not be supporting the current president,” he mentioned.
“This situation is quite extraordinary. I’m not just disappointed, I’m angry. This is my seventh finals… It is that the players have to be exposed to this is completely unacceptable. We have to respond to it,” Moeller added.
Jakob Jensen, CEO of the DBU, outlined the communication that the affiliation had with the governing physique, telling them earlier than the match that they supposed to put on the armband in help of range.
Whereas it isn’t solely aimed on the rights of the LGBTQ group, the armband carries particular significance in Qatar, the place homosexuality is illegitimate and punishable with jail.
Jensen mentioned that the English FA was then expressly advised at a gathering that the staff captain may obtain a yellow card for sporting the armband.
Denmark have labored hand-in-hand with the opposite Nordic soccer associations as they visited Qatar and raised issues over migrant employees’ rights and variety, with Jensen saying that that they had witnessed some success.
“I think if you listen to the speech that Infantino gave in his press conference, there was a lot of words, and if you listen in between those words, you could also hear him addressing the very critique that we’ve been voicing for years,” Jensen advised reporters.
The federal government of Qatar has mentioned its labour system was nonetheless a piece in progress however denied allegations in a 2021 Amnesty report that hundreds of migrant employees within the nation had been being trapped and exploited.
The DBU has are available for stark criticism at house for not merely instructing captain Simon Kjaer to put on the armband and settle for no matter sanction got here their manner.
“We’re now getting hammered the most, but I think the hammering should be on FIFA for not allowing what is a very simple message,” Jensen mentioned.