FIFA’s threat of on-field punishment for players forced World Cup teams come from European countries to back down Monday and abandon an anti-discrimination campaign aimed at host nation Qatar.

Skippers of seven European nations won’t wear armbands supporting the “One Love” campaign in games after FIFA said the players would be shown yellow cards, reports AP.

The captains of Belgium, Switzerland, Germany and Denmark had also pledged to wear the armbands in the coming days.

“As national federations we can’t put our players in a position where they could face sporting sanctions, including bookings,” the seven soccer federations said in a joint statement on Monday.

The decision came three days after beer sales at stadiums was suddenly banned under pressure from the Qatari government and two days after FIFA president Gianni Infantino delivered an extraordinary tirade defending the host nation’s human rights record.

Bd-pratidin English/Golam Rosul