Europe’s Women’s National Team Captains To Continue Wearing Anti-Discrimination Armband

The women’s national team captains of England, Norway and Sweden have committed to wearing the ‘OneLove’ anti-discrimination captain’s armband that was prohibited during last year’s men’s World Cup finals in Qatar. The Lionesses’ captain, Leah Williamson expressed a desire to continue wearing it at this year’s Women’s World Cup finals.

Initiated in 2020 in the Netherlands, the ‘OneLove’ campaign had become a statement displayed on billboards uniting supporters against any form of discrimination on the soccer field. Last September, the national associations of ten European countries – Belgium, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Wales – got together to express their support for the campaign and their commitment that their national team captains would wear a OneLove armband in upcoming matches.

This would have included matches for eight of those countries at the men’s FIFA World Cup in Qatar, a tournament stigmatized by the country’s outlawing of homosexuality. Yet, just hours before England’s first match at the finals , the nations involved were forced to retract their stance claiming that “FIFA has been very clear that it will impose sporting sanctions if our captains wear the armband on the field of play. As national federations, we can’t put out players in a position where they could face sporting sanctions including bookings, so we have asked the captains not to attempt to wear the armbands in FIFA World Cup games.”

Such was the outcry at the eleventh-hour decision, many prominent figures off the pitch wore the OneLove armband in the stands at matches including the German Federal Minister of the Interior and Community, Nancy Faeser. Her national team posed for their team photo ahead of their first game against Japan with their mouths covered to make clear the way they felt they had been gagged by the sport’s governing body.

Having not worn the OneLove armband during matches in November, the Norwegian captain, Maren Mjelde became the first women’s national team captain to wear it since it was outlawed at the men’s World Cup during a 1-0 victory over Uruguay last night in France. Linda Sembrant, the captain of the Swedish national team will wear the OneLove armband in today’s international match against China in Marbella and England’s European Championship-winning captain, Leah Williamson, yesterday committed to wearing the armband for the foreseeable future.

Speaking yesterday at a pre-match press conference ahead of their opening match against Korea Republic at the Arnold Clark Cup, Williamson explained, “we’re never shy about saying what we stand for. We’re a squad that promotes inclusivity, equality. We obviously have a number of people that feel very strongly about it. I think it’s not even a question for us really. We’re not just impacting football, we’re trying to have a positive impact on society, and that’s one of the ways we can do that.”

“I think the main thing for us is, it’s always been a value that we’ve always stood by, so the consistency there won’t change. It’s a journey that the world is on that isn’t quite where we want it to be yet, so it’s something that we’ll continue to fight for. It stands against discrimination of any form.”

According to FIFA rules for their tournaments, such as the FIFA Women’s World Cup, all team equipment must not have any political, religious or personal slogans, statements or images. Although national team captains are free to choose their own armbands in other matches, Article 13.8.1 for the FIFA Equipment Regulations state that “For FIFA Final Competitions, the captain of each Team must wear the captain’s armband provided by FIFA.”

Williamson, who wore a rainbow armband as England captain throughout 2022, said she hoped to be able to wear the OneLove armband during the World Cup finals beginning this July. “Obviously you hope it’s not a last-minute call, once we get there. It’s something we want to do all year around, we’ve done previously. Every picture that we have with the trophy lift, there’s a rainbow armband in there. So I think it’s a great stage and a great time to promote those values that we believe in so much. I hope it’s the same (in the World Cup).”

In other international matches last night, the captains of Denmark, France and Wales did not opt to wear the OneLove armband, although Simone Boye of Denmark and Sophie Ingle, the captain of Wales did wear rainbow armbands in support of the LGBTQ+ community. It has not been confirmed if the captain of the Netherlands will continue to wear the OneLove armbands, having worn them in matches before Christmas.

Despite the German men’s national team captain Manuel Neuer being a vocal supporter of the OneLove campaign, the German women’s team captain, Alex Popp chose to continue wearing a rainbow armband in November’s matches away to the United States. Of the other ten national associations to support the campaign, the Belgium women’s team captain has also opted against wearing the OneLove armband in today’s Arnold Clark Cup match against Italy.