A hidden message in the Danish national team's World Cup jersey; Qatar rejects it and responds.

The Qatar World Cup Planning Committee (SC) responded to criticisms leveled at the World Cup finals regarding the Danish national team's jerseys, designed by the well-known Danish company Hummel. The Qatari committee's response stated: "We categorically reject any attempt to downplay our genuine commitment to protecting the health and safety of the 30,000 workers who built the stadiums and other tournament projects. This same commitment now extends to 150,000 workers across various roles during the tournament and 40,000 workers in the service industry," according to a statement from the German Press Agency (dpa).

So what message do the shirts convey?
The design and color of the shirt express a “wandering mourning team”, and the new national team shirts were used in football matches against Croatia and France in the Nations League. The shirts are all black and have simple logos on the chest and no colors, and this design is seen as a criticism directed at Qatar, the host country of the World Cup.

“The black shirt should be seen as a mobile mourning team showing respect for the thousands of migrant workers who lost their lives so that Qatar could host the World Cup,” said Morten Lund, an official at Hummel, on Wednesday.

The Supreme Council questioned the information in Hummel’s statement regarding the number of migrant workers who lost their lives in the preparations for the World Cup matches in Qatar, or the “desert state” as described in the article on the TV2 website.

The World Cup organizers in Qatar said in the statement that they had entered into a strong and transparent dialogue with DBU (the Danish authority concerned) regarding the concerns raised by DBU.

The organizing committee's response in Qatar puts the ball in Denmark's court.
The organizing committee in Qatar responded to the criticism by referring to human rights issues in Denmark, saying: “The commitment should always be on countries that need to do more to protect the rights of people around the world, including Denmark.” It added: “The work of the (Qatari) committee has been appreciated by many actors within the international human rights community as a model that has accelerated and improved lives. As in any other country, progress on these kinds of issues is an ongoing journey with no finish line, and Qatar is committed to this journey.” The Qatari committee also called on the Danish DBU committee to convey the outcome of the talks and intensive cooperation between them and ensure that it is communicated to their partners at Hummel, who designed the Danish national team’s jerseys.

These are images of the Danish national team's official jerseys for the World Cup in Qatar, designed by Hummel.