Christian Eriksen and the rest of the Danish national team will not be allowed to wear the message “Human Rights for All” on their training shirts at the World Cup in Qatar. Fifa rejected a corresponding request from the Danes, as the Danish Football Association DBU told the Ritzau news agency. A spokesman for the association confirmed this. “We have sent an application to Fifa, but the answer is negative. We have to take that into account,” said Jakob Jensen.
Denmark is one of the countries that has been particularly critical of the World Cup award to Qatar and the human rights situation there. In November 2021, the DBU announced that sponsors were clearing the space on the training jerseys for critical messages in Qatar. It was later decided that the message “Human rights for all” should be there – but according to Ritzau, this has to be approved by Fifa. The wearing of political messages is prohibited in the legal manual of the world football association Fifa.
“For me, it’s a shirt with a simple message about universal human rights,” Jensen said. He does not recognize a political message. According to him, Denmark could face fines or even point deductions if the ban were violated. According to Jensen, the DBU wants to avoid these sanctions. They do not want to move away from the critical line towards Qatar.
The human rights organization Amnesty International was disappointed with Fifa’s decision. “We do not understand that Fifa rejects this beautiful and important initiative by the DBU,” said Annette Stubkjær Rimmer, Amnesty’s political adviser, in a statement to Ritzau.
Denmark had already caused a stir with the presentation of their World Cup jerseys. The third jersey is all black, the logo and outfitter are barely visible. A sign against the exploitation of workers and human rights violations. Outfitter Hummel described the look as a “walking mourning ribbon”. It is still unclear whether the jerseys will be used in the group games against France, Australia and Tunisia or in the further course of the tournament.
