FIFA forces Belgium to remove word 'love' on away kit days ahead of first Qatar 2022 match
Belgium's request to wear team jerseys with the word “Love” written over them, was denied by FIFA after a major u-turn by several European countries.
- SportFit
- 3 min read
The Belgian national football team’s request for wearing team jerseys with the word 'love' written over them, was denied by FIFA on Monday. FIFA reportedly denied Belgium to do so due to a commercial link to a rave festival. The multi-colour details on the away jersey of Belgium were said to be a 'symbol for mutual values on diversity, equality, and inclusivity'.
Meanwhile, the initiative was first announced during the September launch by Tomorrowland, which is one of the biggest and grandest music festivals. However, with FIFA’s rules on clothing and equipment at the FIFA World Cup 2022, Belgium were forced to change its World Cup plans for its first alternate jersey to traditional red. As per the Associated Press, the Belgian soccer federation commented on the matter and said, “We had to skip it for commercial reasons because of referring to Tomorrowland”.
European nations make a U-turn from the 'One Love' campaign
Earlier in the day, Belgium, alongside seven other European nations backed out from making their captain wear the ‘One Love’ armband. In September this year, 10 European nations announced that their captains will be wearing the ‘One Love’ armband, designed to express solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community in the tournament. However, the world governing body threatened players with on-field punishment for breaking FIFA regulations.
Heading into the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, skippers of seven European countries confirmed that they will be wearing the heart-shaped, multicoloured ‘OneLove’ armband. The armband promotes diversity in the sport and society. This became a major talking point as Qatar continues to face criticism for its long list of controversial issues, including humanitarian struggles.
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What has been said so far?
Meanwhile, as per AP, the seven soccer officials put out a joint statement and said, “As national federations, we can’t put our players in a position where they could face sporting sanctions, including bookings”. The seven teams to make a u-turn were England, Netherlands, Wales, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, and Denmark. The teams were reportedly told that their captains will be shown yellow cards for any kind of violation.
The FIFA World Cup 2022 Qatar kicked off on November 20 with Ecuador winning 2-0 against Qatar. In the second match in the tournament, England dominated Iran to win by 6-2, while the Netherlands defeated Senegal by 2-0. In the third match of Day 2, Wales returned with a 1-1 draw against the USA. Belgium will kick off its campaign on November 24, with the Group F match against Canada.