In Qatar, during the football World Cup, sport is increasingly only being talked about in passing. Above all, the discussion about the “One Love” armband moves those responsible, players and fans. ZDF commentator Claudia Neumann shows the flag in the discussion – in rainbow colors.
ZDF commentator Claudia Neumann made a courageous statement in the debate about the banned “One Love” bandage at the World Cup in Qatar. The 58-year-old sat in the press box for Monday night’s USA-Wales game at Al-Rajjan’s Ahmad bin Ali Stadium wearing a black T-shirt with a rainbow heart printed on it. She also wore a colorful bandage on her arm, also in the colors that stand for diversity and tolerance.
“Welcome here to the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium for game three on tournament day two. It could have been a legendary, a proud World Cup day, but we’re all spending it discussing the expressions of solidarity that we saw in one place. Namely with the Iran team today,” said Neumann at the microphone.
FIFA had previously caused a stir by pressuring eight European federations for wanting their captains to wear the ‘One Love’ armband. However, the associations concerned were reluctant to do so for fear of yellow cards for their captains. The German national team and captain Manuel Neuer will also not wear the armband.
For this reason, the Belgian national team has to play with a modified third jersey at the World Cup in Qatar. The association announced that the word “Love”, which was worked into the inside of these jerseys, had to be removed again. “The word love has to go,” the president of the Belgian association RBFA, Peter Bossaert, was quoted as saying in the Belgian media. “It’s sad, but Fifa leaves us no choice.” The jersey in question features the colors of the rainbow and is intended to reflect the values ??of diversity, equality and inclusion. The lettering on the inside, however, was warned.
(This article was first published on Tuesday, November 22, 2022.)
