7 European soccer teams backtracked on wearing rainbow armbands at the Qatar World Cup after FIFA threatened to sanction players

• Seven European nations had reversed their decision to wear rainbow armbands at the Qatar World Cup.
• Team captains had planned to wear "OneLove" armbands to protest Qatar's stance on homosexuality.

Seven European nations, including England and Germany, have said they will no longer have their players wear rainbow armbands at the Qatar World Cup, over fears they will be shown yellow cards for doing so.

The captains of the seven countries had planned to wear armbands that read "OneLove" to protest against homosexuality being illegal in Qatar.

A joint statement from the Football Associations of England, Germany, Wales, Belgium, Denmark, The Netherlands, and Switzerland said: "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."

The national federations said they had written to FIFA, world soccer's governing body, in September informing them about the decision to wear the OneLove armband but did not receive a response.

"FIFA has been very clear that it will impose sporting sanctions if our captains wear the armbands on the field of play," the statement said.

"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," it said.

The late U-turn comes after FIFA president Gianni Infantino told journalists on Friday that he understood the struggles of the gay community because he had red hair as a child.

"Today I feel Qatari. Today I feel Arabic. Today I feel African. Today I feel gay. Today I feel disabled. Today I feel [like] a migrant worker," he said.

"Of course I am not Qatari, I am not an Arab, I am not African, I am not gay, I am not disabled. But I feel like it, because I know what it means to be discriminated, to be bullied, as a foreigner in a foreign country.

"As a child I was bullied because I had red hair and freckles, plus I was Italian, so imagine," he added.