“You have lost my respect.” The words are signed Josh Cavallo, an Australian footballer known to be one of the first to have publicly evoked his homosexuality. The player uploaded himself to his Instagram following FIFA’s decision to ban the wearing of rainbow-colored armbands at the World Cup in Qatar.
“Fifa has banned all teams from wearing the ‘One Love’ armband actively supporting LGBTQ+ people at the World Cup. You at Fifa have lost my respect,” wrote Josh Cavallo on his Instagram account. Seven European nations had planned to wear this colorful “One Love” armband against discrimination at the World Cup. They finally gave up on Monday in the face of the threat of “sporting sanctions” brandished by Fifa.
“You should never give up”
Josh Cavallo did not stop there: “(Faced with) all the work that my allies and the LGBTQ+ community are doing to make football inclusive, you have shown that football is not a place open to everyone. The world football body has warned, according to the Dutch federation, that if the captains of these seven nations wear a One Love armband, they will receive a yellow card at kick-off.
In another message, posted on his Twitter account, he also attacks the call that the president of Fifa, Gianni Infantino, launched to the 32 qualified teams, urging them to “focus on football” . “It’s not the first time we’ve been told to ‘stick to football’. The attacks on the LGBTQ+ community of World Cup leaders affect so many people who live in silence (…) To be a great sports leader, you must never give up on bringing all people together,” he wrote. . Cavallo, who plays in the Australian Premier League for Adelaide United, came out as gay just over a year ago in October 2021. He is not in the ‘Socceroos’ squad. who participate in the World Cup and will face France this Tuesday (8 p.m.).