Rainbow armband in Qatar: "We have been abandoned by the authorities", says Didier Deschamps

Europe 1 with AFP // Photo credit: BERTRAND GUAY / AFP 17:05 p.m., November 02, 2023

The coach of the France team Didier Deschamps said Thursday that the national teams had been "abandoned before the World Cup" in Qatar by the "authorities" on the wearing of the rainbow armband, which selections had considered before giving it up. "We were abandoned before this World Cup because the responsibility belongs to the authorities, and so it was the free decision of each other" to express themselves on the subject, Didier Deschamps told the National Assembly committee dedicated to "operational failures within sports federations".

"If there is collective and general action, it is better"

"The decision to hold the World Cup in Qatar was taken before I was coach or Noël Le Graët" was president of the French Football Federation (FFF) - the latter has since resigned in February - said the coach of Les Bleus. "In the weeks before (the World Cup), non-sporting issues come up and we ask the players to take a stand, having different sensitivities depending on the country and the culture," he added.

"We are on the decisions of Fifa, there are specifications, you must follow the recommendations of Fifa," said Didier Deschamps to justify that the team of France - like all its competitors - did not wear the armband dedicated to the fight against homophobia. "If there is collective and general action, it's better," he said, before explaining that he "already has enough things to take care of internally" on a sporting level. Homosexuality, like sex outside marriage, is criminalised in Qatar, which has drawn sharp criticism from the Qatari authorities and Fifa.

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Eight Western European federations had once considered having their captains wear a rainbow "One Love" armband, but ultimately decided against it, citing threats of sporting sanctions from Fifa. In the official photo ahead of their first match, against Japan on 23 November, the German players put their hands over their mouths in a universal gag gesture to express their outrage at what they saw as an attack on their freedom of expression.

This attitude has been strongly criticised in Qatar and in non-Western countries, under the reproach of mixing sport and politics. The president of the French Football Federation, Noël Le Graët, had expressed his opposition to the "One Love" armband.