Fifa ‘rejects England & Scotland request to wear poppies on armbands’

Fifa has turned down a request from England and Scotland for players to wear armbands featuring poppies when they face each other at Wembley on Armistice Day, says the Scottish Football Association.

The two nations meet in a 2018 World Cup qualifier on 11 November, the day when the United Kingdom traditionally remembers its war dead.

SFA chief Stewart Regan says Fifa, which bans political, religious or commercial messages on shirts, is “sticking to the letter of the law”.

The two football associations hope to change Fifa’s mind.

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MP Damian Collins – chair of the Commons’ Culture, Media and Sport select committee – has written to Fifa president Gianni Infantino asking for the world governing body to reconsider its decision.

Separately, the Football Association of Wales says it is seeking approval for its players to wear the poppy symbol on their shirts when they play Serbia at the Cardiff City Stadium on 12 November.

The football associations of England, Scotland and Wales also want to know what the potential punishments could be should they decide to flout the rules.

Fifa, football’s world governing body, has not indicated whether a points penalty would be under consideration.

Regan said he and FA chief executive Martin Glenn would be meeting Fifa officials on Thursday to discuss the poppy issue.

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