I think it should be like this:
<sup class='footnote' value='[<a href="#fen-NIV-26127a" title="See footnote a">a</a>]'>[<a href="#fen-NIV-26127a" title="See footnote a">a</a>]</sup>Red = HTML tags
Blue = HTML tag parameters
Green = Plain text
Which would appear as this on your browser screen: [
a]
-genius_at_work