![]() “I will protect my players, they have total freedom of speech and behaviour. I don’t think we can put that on the players, definitely not here. I think it’s very hard on the players to tell them about this. “We just know there will be consequences and maybe it has to do with results, or the football part of it. But I can tell you that I have difficulties finding myself here. But I’m there 100 per cent for the players. “There’s so many things I want to say and want to do. Yes, I spend too much time every day now figuring out how to handle this,” he said. It’s not so much unrest that my concentration suffers, but enough unrest as a human being. Hjulmand made it clear he did not see the issue as a reason for his team’s somewhat underwhelming display against Tunisia. Here I am in it, and we talk about something completely different, how wild is that?” “This is my first World Cup match, I’ve been dreaming about this. I value it, the players value it, but it’s really damn difficult to do that. “It’s difficult when it’s something that we really value. This is standing up for diversity, every person, every shade of people, that is not a political statement. We had expected no problem with the captain’s armband. “I cannot confirm anything,” Hjulmand replied when asked if the threats went further than a booking. “I don’t think that it’s clear what would happen, but there have been threats that affected the sporting side. However, it has been reported FIFA were pressurising the seven teams planning to wear the armband, with the possibility of not only economic fines, but sporting sanctions – such as instant yellow cards or even a one-match suspension for the player wearing the garment. Hjulmand also made a point of adding he wants to see “young, progressive people enter governing bodies”, and that he hopes people will begin to have more empathy with one another.įIFA president Gianni Infantino insisted during a media address on Saturday that “everybody was welcome” to Qatar, where homosexuality is a crime. “I like the football, I love football, I love the diversity, love all countries, love different people. “At the moment, I’m not sure if I’m part of something I like. “In Denmark, we have a slogan ‘part of something bigger’,” Hjulmand told reporters. ![]() Yet under pressure from FIFA, the teams released a statement on Monday confirming the plan, which was in order to protest against the questionable human rights record of the host nation, would not go ahead.ĭenmark drew 0-0 with Tunisia in their opening game on Tuesday, but Hjulmand’s post-match press conference was dominated by the furore surrounding the issue. Kasper Hjulmand conceded he feels part of something he does not like after Denmark were among the European nations to backtrack on wearing OneLove armbands.ĭenmark, along with England, Wales, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands, had planned for their captains to wear the armband – which promotes diversity and inclusion – for the duration of their campaigns at the World Cup in Qatar.
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