Germany’s Manuel Neuer Explains Team’s Protest Before First World Cup Match

After the national anthems are played at the World Cup, teams take their individual squad photos in a tradition that often goes overlooked. However, Germany’s photo from Wednesday match against Japan became quite notable when the starting XI all covered their mouths in a form of protest. 

Keeper Manuel Neuer told The Athletic after the team’s World Cup opener that he and six other players had the idea Tuesday night, and he said, “FIFA will never silence us.” 

“We said they can take our armband, but as much as FIFA might want to, they will never silence us. We stand for our values and for human rights. We wanted to show that,” he added.

FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, has prevented team captains from wearing the “OneLove” armband, which has a striped heart with various colors to promote inclusion and raise awareness for marginalized groups. Belgium, Denmark, England, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Wales were all going to participate in the campaign. A joint statement from those seven teams 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.” 

The statement continued, “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.” This came just hours before England’s first game against Iran. 

The statement called the decision “unprecedented” and added that the clubs “wrote to FIFA in September” about wearing these armbands but “had no response.”

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

Germany’s team tweeted moments before it kicked off against Japan a photo of the starting XI with their mouths covered, saying, “It wasn’t about making a political statement – human rights are non-negotiable. That should be taken for granted, but it still isn’t the case. That’s why this message is so important to us. 

“Denying us the armband is the same as denying us a voice. We stand by our position.”

But before this demonstration occurred on the pitch, Germany’s interior minister, Nancy Faeser, stole the show as she took her seat next to FIFA’s president, Gianni Infantino. When she removed her blazer, Faeser was wearing the armband that Neuer, among others, was supposed to wear.