Virgil van Dijk was among the captains who originally wanted to wear the ‘One Love’ armband at the 2022 World Cup before pressure from FIFA backed down from the plan. After the opening game of the Netherlands, the defense chief spoke about the action.
In the past few days, those responsible for several World Cup participants have made it clear that their captains will definitely wear the symbolic ‘One Love’ armband at the tournament in Qatar. A penalty would also be accepted, as DFB President Bernd Neuendorf had said.
Shortly before the start of the second day of the tournament, however, these announcements were already wasted. Nations such as Germany, England and the Netherlands announced in a joint statement that they are now backing down – because FIFA had apparently made threats behind the scenes. “It was a clear threat against us because we were threatened with sporting sanctions. It was an unprecedented demonstration of power by FIFA. We don’t want to wage this fight on the backs of our players,” explained Neuendorf. Virgil van Dijk was the first player to comment on the backtrack after the Netherlands’ 2-0 win over Senegal.
Asked if he hadn’t considered wearing the ‘One Love’ armband against all odds, the Liverpool star replied in no uncertain terms: “No! I’m a player you don’t see with a yellow card I want to make a political statement,” said the 31-year-old, “but I’m a soccer player. I want to play these tournaments!” At the same time, he made it clear where his priority lies.
“People say I’m spineless, but that’s not the case,” defended van Dijk. “We just want to play football. Lots of opinions? You can’t prevent that. I would have played with the armband – but not if I was penalized with a yellow card.”
According to Sky information, not only could a yellow card have threatened, but a subsequent game suspension could possibly have been pronounced.
This article was originally published on 90min.de as a ‘One Love’ binder: Virgil van Dijk comments on the withdrawal.
