‘Germany one love, Japan two goals’- German players’ unique protest pits different cultures against each other at FIFA World Cup 2022

The FIFA World Cup 2022 has been marred with controversy ever since the hosting rights was assigned to Qatar in 2010. Since then there have been reports of human rights violations, workers’ death, bribery, and many other such controversies that have soured world views about the Middle Eastern country.

The latest controversy surrounding the FIFA World Cup in Qatar is the disallowance of ‘One Love’ armbands. Notably, 7 European teams taking part in the mega event had planned to wear the ‘One Love’ armband in support of LGBTQ rights, but the Qatar regime has disallowed it at the very last moment.

Qatar which has very strict anti-homosexuality laws has banned the rainbow symbol all over the country and doesn’t allow any football fans to enter the stadium donning the seven colours.

Germany which was one of the seven countries planning to don the One Love armband has come up with a unique protest against Qatar. Ahead of their match against Japan, German players stood together with hands on their mouths. The gesture was symbolic of the Qatar regime suppressing the voices of whoever it deems not in line with its own cultural norms.

The Germany football team’s official Twitter handle wrote, “We wanted to use our captain’s armband to take a stand for values that we hold in the Germany national team: diversity and mutual respect. Together with other nations, we wanted our voices to be heard.

It continued, “It wasn’t about making a political statement- human rights are non-negotiable. That should be taken for granted, but it still isn’t the case. That’s why this message is so important to us. Denying us the armband is the same as denying us a voice. We stand by our position.”

Here’s how Twitter reacted: 

While there were a significant number of people in support of Germany’s gesture the vast majority seemed to be of differing opinions on the issue. Many social media users reminded Germany of their poor human rights record in history. They also brought up Mesut Ozil, the Muslim football player whose career mysteriously declined after he claimed of racism in Germany.