– It is not surprising, but still a bit strange as human rights are enshrined in Fifa’s statutes as important, national team manager Ståle Solbakken tells news. In a few days, Denmark will play the football World Cup in Qatar. There was a desire for them to make a mark against the country’s violation of human rights. The wish was to wear tracksuits with the text “Human Rights For All”, i.e. “human rights for all”. But on Thursday it became known that the Danes had been refused by Fifa for such a marking. It is justified in Fifa’s regulations that it is forbidden to show political, religious or personal messages during the World Cup. – We sit together with Denmark in the working group, so it was not surprising that they were refused. I of course disagree with the decision, says football president Lise Klaveness to news. – Religious symbols on the body Fifa and IOC researcher Hans Ivar Næss says that the Fifa decision is “absolutely ridiculous” and a major contradiction of its own principles. – Now suddenly they define arbitrarily what is a political or religious marking and what is not. He refers to the fact that footballers have a lot of freedom in how they can act in a football match, including with tattoos. CONTRADICTORY: Fifa researcher believes that Denmark is not allowed to mark for human rights, while footballers are allowed to play with religious symbols. Photo: AP/AFP – If you say that human rights are political, you can say that. But they do a whole lot of other things that are also political that they don’t crack down on. – Football players have religious symbols tattooed on their bodies. It’s sort of very random on what they put into this decision. – I think that they simply feel pressured by Qatar to do so. The decision goes directly against Fifa’s own human rights work which they started in 2017 and which they are continuing with now to set criteria for new World Cup organisers, says Næss. In contrast to Norway’s marking, the rejection from Fifa also causes the Norwegian national team manager Ståle Solbakken to react. – They (Fifa) are fighting a hard battle now so that politics will not become a theme during the World Cup. – Although “human rights for all” should not be a political position, but a matter of course and that it should not be difficult to stand up for, writes Solbakken in a text message to news. REACTS: Ståle Solbakken is not impressed with Fifa’s handling of Denmark’s desire to mark. Photo: ALF SIMENSEN / NTB This contrasts with how Norway’s message in the WC qualifiers was received. They wore white T-shirts before several matches, in which they distanced themselves from the human rights abuses in Qatar. At the time, Fifa responded as follows: – Fifa believes in freedom of expression and that the power of football can lead to positive changes. – Serious for Denmark No disciplinary process was initiated against Norway. Solbakken says that no application of any kind was carried out in advance at the time. That is what Denmark has done. When asked by news about why Norway and Denmark have received different treatment, Fifa replied as follows: – The fourth law in “the Laws Of The Game” states that all team parts (including clothing) cannot have political, religious or personal slogans or images. Fifa does not specifically answer why they do not use the concept of freedom of expression and positive changes in the case of Denmark. MARKED: The Danes also scored against Qatar during the qualifiers before they were due to meet Moldova in March 2021. Photo: BO AMSTRUP / AFP DBU boss Jakob Jensen says that the association can be punished with both monetary and point penalties. – We have to comply with the tournament rules that have been imposed. If we don’t do that, we could be hit with sanctions and fines, and we want to avoid that, says Jensen according to the Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet. NORWEGIAN MARKING: The Norwegian national team marked for “Human Rights” in 2021. Photo: Vegard Wivestad Grøtt / BILDBYRÅN / POOL / NTB The Danes have already taken action before the WC. Their sponsors will not be significantly visible on their kits, as their kit supplier Hummel has gone for all-red, all-black and all-white kits. Fifa researcher Næss praises Denmark for setting the agenda, but does not think the Danes dare to go ahead after being refused by Fifa. – It would be very serious for Denmark to receive a point penalty in the World Cup. Now they don’t quite know what kind of punishment they can get, then it becomes risky to continue, says Næss.
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