It has been announced that the Lionesses will not be able to wear the One Love armband. This is following the ban of the armband during the men’s World Cup in Qatar, last Winter. The Lionesses will now have to choose from one of eight FIFA-sanctioned alternatives armbands to wear in this Summers tournament.
These eight armband alternatives are, unite for:
- Inclusion
- Indigenous people
- Gender equality
- Education for all
- Ending violence against women
- Peace
- Zero hunger - Football is joy peace, love pass
The women’s football teams in the World Cup this Summer will be LGBTQ+ demonstrations across social media platforms, however they will be fined and sanctions if they wear the ‘One Love’ armband during matches at the tournament.
England midfielder, Georgia Stanway, has spoken out about the armband ban that FIFA have put in place during this Summer’s World Cup. She has openly stated that the Lionesses were in support of the ‘One Love’ armband:
“If we can or we can't wear the armband, we know that we wanted to and we'll stand by the fact that we wanted to. Whatever the outcome is we'll still stand by whatever we believed in and whatever we wanted to be the resolution."
The Australian national team has stated that they are not willing to risk wearing the ‘One Love’ arm bands at the Women’s World Cup, due to the sanctions they may face. The Aussie captain, Sam Kerr, is confident that she will be able to spread the word of LGBTQ+ rights using her voice, without having to wear the armband during the tournament in a few weeks time.
"Obviously, we would love to wear it. Like most of the teams in the whole world, everyone has voiced that they would love to wear it," Kerr said in a press conference on Monday.
"You saw with the men's World Cup. Harry Kane, for example, the first game if he had have worn it, he would have received a yellow card; he got a yellow card in the game, so he would have been sent off."
There have been claims that the women's players in this Summer's tournament will receive cards and sanctions for wearing the 'One Love' armband like the men in the Winter World Cup did last year. We will have to wait and see whether the Women's national teams stick by the FIFA guidelines, or if they choose to disobey them and face the sanctions ahead.
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