The International Football Association (FIFA) apparently knew pretty well where the pain threshold of the seven European associations lay.
When he threatened them with sanctions on the field if they ran out with the "One Love" armband at the World Cup, the coalition of those willing to protest was dead.
This is a total loss for everyone, not least for the German Football Association (DFB), which, in the person of its president Bernd Neuendorf, had assured on Sunday afternoon that they would stand by the original word.
The information was already in the world that in addition to a fine - which would not have been a real price - there might also be other consequences.
The associations were already in intensive contact with FIFA.
There is only one diagnosis for the fact that they passed out on Monday morning: collective weakness.
At FIFA you should be laughing up your sleeve.
Their superiors know very well how a power game works, and it would be quite in their style to have deliberately brought about this escalation a few hours before the first games of the English, Dutch and Welshmen.
Since September, various national associations, including the DFB, had been trying to get an answer to the question of whether the "One Love" bandage would at least move within a tolerance range, if not strictly within the framework of the rules.
The less likely variant is that FIFA was unable to provide an answer.
And if it's true that she left the associations in the dark about the specific threat, that would be a particularly perfidious move.
In any case, the masters of the game let the hammer fly and caused the protest to collapse.
Apparently the lesser price for them is that they hit themselves in the face of the justified outcry about their collective heartlessness.
It's not the first damage that they accept unmoved with and at this World Cup.
It may also have been a bit naïve on the part of the associations to push their agenda to the last without appropriate safeguards, insofar they share responsibility for the situation despite all their good intentions.
Ultimately, however, it is FIFA that has the audacity to play this shameful game on the backs of those who make a World Cup what it is.
So on the backs of the players who, unlike in the old days, were willing to take their role as role models beyond the green turf and who were maneuvered into a situation that quickly pushed this World Cup further towards indignity.
If there is anyone who brazenly abuses the tournament stage for political messages, it is FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
One can discuss whether the bandage was the tried and tested means for the intended purposes.
But after being declared so with much fanfare, the answer is yes, absolutely.
Going into this test of strength, in the European association, would have been a strong and timely sign.
Now we have to hope for something else: that the football world (and not just them) will ensure that if there is no light, then a rainbow will rise for FIFA and its President.