The Swiss are in the midst of the World Cup scandal, Blanc is silent

The dispute over a captain’s armband leads to discussions about world views. And the president of the Swiss association, Dominique Blanc, who has been dealing with the subject of human rights for months, is silent at the moment when everyone is talking about it.

“No Discrimination” instead of “One Love”: England’s Captain Harry Kane in the World Cup match against Iran.

Matthias Koch / Imago

“Do you know what else I wish for?” Swiss national coach Murat Yakin asked in a conversation a month ago. What then? “That we can contest a final round without background noise.”

It’s Tuesday morning in Doha, there are still around 48 hours to go before the first World Cup game against Cameroon, Yakin is training with the team behind closed doors – and Adrian Arnold, media chief of the Swiss Football Association (SFV), is standing in front of it and talking about background noise. This time, too, the unexpected is buzzing through the World Cup, after bleached hair at the EM 2021 and the double-headed eagle 2018. This year it’s about a captain’s armband that says “One Love”.

On September 21, the SFV announced that the men’s national team would “do things together with various other nations” before and during the World Cup. Like the captains of other European teams, Granit Xhaka will “wear a symbolic bracelet” and thus show the connection to the “One Love” campaign initiated by the Netherlands. The communiqué said: “‘One Love’ uses the power of football to champion inclusion and send a message against discrimination of any kind, while the eyes of the world will be on football.”

The eyes of the world have been on football since Sunday – and “One Love” has become a big question mark.

Everyone is pointing fingers at each other, just showing how bad the mood is

On Monday, the world association Fifa banned this armband with reference to the passage according to which every captain must wear an armband provided by Fifa in final competitions. And then everything was at stake again: human rights, discrimination – or rather, more or less in disguise, that Fifa cared about corresponding values ​​and the host country Qatar. Although on Monday the captain’s armbands authorized by Fifa for Virgil van Dijk (Netherlands) and Harry Kane (England) said “No Discrimination”.

There’s something self-destructive about the power of football these days. It’s a terrible confusion and conflict, from and between associations and organizers, of arguments here and interpretations there. Some say Fifa has won a power struggle against the few European “One Love” national associations; the others say: No, Fifa lost to host country Qatar. And with everyone pointing fingers at each other, it’s obvious just how bad the mood is. It is so miserable that the failure of the “One Love” compromise leads to discussions about worldviews.

The climate in world football is poisoned. There are conspiracy and other theories that reach the highest levels. For example: Frenchman Hugo Lloris was the first captain to announce last week that he would no longer wear the “One Love” armband. He referred to the fact that in France foreign visitors are also expected to respect local rules. Lately it has been rumored that the French association has been put under pressure at home by the highest political authorities.

He announced the renunciation of “One Love” before FIFA intervened: France’s Captain Hugo Lloris.

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Nothing is considered impossible these days because almost every story can be fitted into another ancient story. It has long been said that the former football politician Michel Platini switched his vote to Qatar more or less at short notice when the 2022 World Cup was awarded in 2010, also politically influenced. After that, the flow of much Qatari money to France began. World football as a puzzle that never looks really pretty, no matter how you put it together, turn it and turn it.

The European national associations apparently did not think their idea through to the end

But if the European national associations are to appear as losers, the question arises to what extent they are the cause of this scandal. They had to be aware of the Fifa article regarding armbands in final competitions as they made themselves part of this campaign. But apparently they didn’t think their idea through to the end at the beginning.

Or to put it less politely: they thought they could put themselves in the limelight with relatively little effort. But when they had to make a sacrifice, they gave in. Whereby: The Germans said on Tuesday evening that they would consider going before the sports arbitration court TAS. And: sacrifice? The captains might have been warned, other speculations go as far as point deductions or even a tournament exclusion.

On the one hand, this sanction must be placed in relation to everything that the “One Love” ambassadors would have wanted to point out, at least subliminally: the victims of a lack of inclusion in Qatar, discrimination of all kinds. Or even to what is said about Fifa regulations: that Iran’s footballers refused to sing along with the national anthem on Monday, which may result in reprisals at home.

On the other hand: The SFV clearly divided the World Cup communication in the past few months. It was up to the players themselves whether they wanted to comment on human rights issues. The wording, however, was shaped by media chief Adrian Arnold and President Dominique Blanc, who had been dealing with the subject of human rights in a corresponding working group for months. It would have been surprising if the players had suddenly been turned into human rights protagonists, who would have been banned after two games with the “One Love” armband and two warnings.

On Tuesday, Cameroon-born Breel Embolo prefers to talk about how special the match against Cameroon will be for him at the media event for obvious reasons. Embolo says: “It’s good that the World Cup has finally started.” The association president Blanc does not comment. When everyone is talking about his topic, he declines to comment publicly. At the moment, the SFV is refraining from going to the TAS. He doesn’t want any background noise.

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