FIFAa is wrong to ban poppies on shirts for the World Cup qualifier between England and Scotland on Remembrance Day, says Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger.
The football associations of England and Scotland will defy FIFA and allow their players to wear black armbands with red poppy emblems for the match.
The Gunners boss said FFIFA “should not get involved” in the issue.
World football’s governing body prohibits political, religious or commercial messages on shirts.
“By wanting to be too politically correct you can go sometimes against tradition,” Wenger added.
“In this case, I think that is part of the English culture that I love. They respect tradition and they respect people who have given their life for the country.”
The poppy is worn in the weeks up to and around Remembrance Day on 11 November to remember British and Commonwealth armed forces who died in World War One and later conflicts.
Fifa’s secretary general Fatma Samba Diouf Samoura has told BBC Sport “any kind of sanction” could follow if Fifa’s rules are breached.
The issue was not raised at a meeting between Samoura and the four home football associations at Wembley Stadium on Thursday as all parties had agreed to disagree over the matter, said BBC sports news correspondent Richard Conway.
English FA chief executive Martin Glenn told BBC Sport that players from both sides will break Fifa rules and wear armbands carrying the red poppy symbol “as a point of principle”.
The Scottish Football Association, meanwhile, told BBC Sport it is prepared to challenge any Fifa sanction imposed for its players wearing armbands.
SFA chief executive Stewart Regan said they want to “do the right thing” by wearing the poppy.
