Germany's national football team protested at the FIFA World Cup

Germany protest during their team photo in their opening match at the FIFA World Cup. Image: ESPN FC / Instagram

Wenger claims Germany’s early FIFA World Cup exit caused by “political demonstrations”

Germany’s early 2022 World Cup group stage exit caused by “politicial demonstrations” says FIFA’s Arsene Wenger.

Germany's national football team protested at the FIFA World Cup

Germany protest during their team photo in their opening match at the FIFA World Cup. Image: ESPN FC / Instagram

Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger made a startling claim that Germany’s FIFA World Cup group stage exit was due to their “political demonstrations”.

Germany’s players protested by covering their mouths during the team photo ahead of their opening match against Japan. The four-time FIFA World Cup winners suffered a surprise 2-1 loss to the team ranked 24th in the world rankings at the Khalifa International Stadium in Qatar.

GERMANY PROTESTED ONE LOVE ARMBAND BAN AT FIFA WORLD CUP

According to The Athletic, the Frenchman is FIFA’s head of global football development and said teams who made political demonstrations at the tournament were more likely to not advance from the group stage.

“When you go to the World Cup, you know to not lose the first game. Teams with experience in the competition, like France, England and Brazil they play well in the first game and the teams who were mentally ready to focus on the competition and not political demonstration”, Wenger said.

Germany beat Costa Rica 4-2 in their final match and still failed to reach the next round for the second successive World Cup. Hansi Flick’s men were the favourites to advance from Group E along with 2010 World Cup winners Spain who lost out on top spot to Japan.

The FIFA World Cup is being hosted in Qatar for the first time and the country has come under fire for its treatment of migrant workers who helped build the stadiums.

The Gulf state’s law states a prison sentence of one to three years for “inducing or seducing a male or a female in any way to commit illegal or immoral actions”. Many western countries have criticised Qatar’s stance on LGBT+ rights, and FIFA’s decision to ban the One Love armband.

Many team captains opted to not wear the armband which bore pride colours after FIFA said players would receive yellow cards.