“Draconian”: Gay footballer Josh Cavallo slams FIFA over stance on LGBTQIA+ rights and rainbow armband during 2022 Qatar World Cup
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Josh Cavallo furious after FIFA's restrictions on players wearing "one love armband" during 2022 FIFA World Cup
Gay Australian football player, Josh Cavallo in a moving social media post criticized FIFA for its position on gay rights at the World Cup in Qatar. In response to the harsh lack of gay rights under the Qatari rule, FIFA has pressured to expel captains who planned to wear the rainbow “One Love” armband, which include vocal Danish skipper Christian Eriksen and England’s Harry Kane.
FIFA warned athletes that wearing the armbands would result in penalties, yellow cards, or even expulsion from the game. Several European football federations then issued a joint statement stating that they couldn’t “put their players in a position where they could face sporting sanctions.”
Cavallo doesn’t like the situation, and he termed FIFA’s stance prohibiting the seven European captains from promoting gay rights “draconian.” The 23-year-old Adelaide United star, Josh Cavallo, bravely became a spokesperson for bettering LGBTI+ rights throughout the sporting world after courageously coming out as gay in October of last year.
‘FIFA. I love my identity. Seeing you have banned all teams to wear the One Love Armband to actively support LGBTQ+ at the World Cup, you have lost my respect,’ Cavallo posted on social media. ‘All the work we’re doing to make football more inclusive you have shown that football isn’t a place for everyone.’ Josh published a rough social media post criticizing FIFA, which has many wondering how the Arab nation even got into the tournament in the first place.
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FIFA and European teams on the FIFA World Cup 2022 rainbow armband retaliation
During the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, the soccer captains of seven European teams were scheduled to don rainbow armbands. In a country where homosexuality is against the law, the armbands were intended to spread a message of LGBTQ recognition.
But none of them will wear it now that they are under fire from FIFA, the sport’s governing body. Seven World Cup soccer teams from Europe have announced that their captains will not wear LGBTQ armbands in Qatar after FIFA, the organization that oversees the competition, warned that players who do so will face consequences.
“We were prepared to pay fines that would normally apply to breaches of kit regulations and had a strong commitment to wearing the armband. However, we cannot put our players in a situation where they might be booked or even forced to leave the field of play,” the soccer associations stated in a joint statement.
Read More: Renowned US journalist detained in Qatar during 2022 FIFA World Cup for wearing ‘Rainbow’ T-shirt
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Khushi Bhanushali
(146 Articles Published)