Harry Kane was ‘blackmailed’ and threatened with one-match World Cup BAN if he wore One Love armband against Iran
HARRY Kane and the other European captains were threatened with "extreme blackmail" to force them into dropping the OneLove armband.
England skipper Kane and fellow captains including Gareth Bale and Virgil van Dijk backed down in the face of FIFA threats they faced potential bookings.
And German media chief Steffen Simon claimed it was "extreme blackmail."
He told German Deutschlandfunk radio that England, who had been the first team to be expected to wear it on Monday against Iran, had been threatened with multiple sporting sanctions.
Simon said: "The tournament director went to the English team and talked about multiple rule violations and threatened with massive sporting sanctions without specifying what these would be.'
"We lost the armband and it is very painful but we are the same people as before with the same values.
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"We are not impostors who claim they have values and then betray them.
"We were in an extreme situation, in an extreme blackmail and we thought we had to take that decision without wanting to do so."
Former Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, now a senior executive with the country's FA, claimed Denmark's skipper had faced a one-match ban if he had worn the rainbow armband.
She said: "We could have defied FIFA but that would have risked an entire game ban.
"This is what I understand FIFA has threatened, among other sanctions.
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"FIFA has been a little tight-lipped about what sanctions could be envisage but I think it was a valid consideration for us."
All seven nations - the group was completed by Germany, Belgium and Switzerland - back down under the threats.
Thorning-Schmidt added: "Now we're going to play football.
"I am happy for the seven nations who have worked together for this, but maybe it is also time to say now we are playing football.
"This does not mean that any of us are giving up the fight for LGBTQ+ rights to have a place in football in general."
Her comments came as America's most senior diplomat, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, slammed world football chiefs over the issue.
Blinken, speaking in Doha, said: "It is always concerning when we see any restrictions on freedom of expression.
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"It's especially so when the expression is for diversity and for inclusion.
"In my judgment, no one on a football pitch should be forced to choose between supporting these values and playing for their team."