David Mundell: Fifa '˜completely wrong' on poppies ban

Scottish Secretary David Mundell has condemned Fifa's 'inexplicable' decision to ban international footballers from wearing poppies.

Scottish Secretary David Mundell criticised Fifa's poppy ban. Picture: PA

Football’s world governing body insists the laws of the game, which prohibit commercial, political or religious messages from players’ kits, means poppies cannot be worn in the clash at Wembley on 11 November.

The Scottish Football Association and its English counterpart issued near-identical statements insisting poppies do not represent such a message and that their players will wear poppies during their Armistice Day World Cup qualifier, in defiance of the ban.

At Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, Theresa May criticised Fifa and described its stance as “utterly outrageous”.

Mr Mundell said yesterday: “This isn’t a political gesture – it’s a gesture about paying respect.”