Liverpool star forced into major World Cup u-turn after FIFA warning

Liverpool star Virgil Van Dijk will not wear a ‘OneLove’ armband for the Netherlands’ World Cup opener against Senegal after FIFA threatened players could be booked.

The Netherlands open their World Cup campaign later today against Senegal at 4:00pm GMT.

The Reds centre-back previously claimed that he would join six other World Cup captains by wearing the OneLove armband in a bid to support inclusivity and LGBTQ+ rights in Qatar, where same-sex marriage is illegal.

FIFA however, has sought to discourage the move by introducing its own social campaign.

The governing body is instead expecting all of its participants to wear new armbands that will display messages such as "#ProtectChildren" "#ShareTheMeal", "#FootballForSchools" and "#NoDiscrimination" for each round of the competition.

Van Dijk U-turn

As reported by Dutch journalist Mike Verweij, Van Dijk will not be wearing the OneLove armband after having been told by FIFA that he would receive a yellow card if he does wear it.

This U-turn comes only a day after the Liverpool defender claimed: "I will wear the OneLove armband tomorrow.

"Nothing changed from our point of view. If I will get a yellow card for wearing it then we would have to discuss it because I don't like to play while being on a yellow."

Sanctions

The seven footballing associations have all made a dramatic U-turn on the OneLove armband, with FIFA now threatening sporting sanctions against those wearing the OneLove armband.

A statement on behalf of the seven football nations in question read: “FIFA has been very clear that it will impose sporting sanctions if our captains wear the armbands on the field of play.

“As national federations, we can’t put our players in a position where they could face sporting sanctions including bookings, so we have asked the captains not to attempt to wear the armbands in FIFA World Cup games.

“We were prepared to pay fines that would normally apply to breaches of kit regulations and had a strong commitment to wearing the armband.

“However, we cannot put our players in the situation where they might be booked or even forced to leave the field of play.

“We are very frustrated by the FIFA decision which we believe is unprecedented -- we wrote to FIFA in September informing them of our wish to wear the One Love armband to actively support inclusion in football, and had no response.

“Our players and coaches are disappointed -- they are strong supporters of inclusion and will show support in other ways.”