World Cup federations have been told by FIFA that the rainbow flag “will not be banned” in stadiums for the next round of matches.
The question has created a lot of tension since the start of the tournament. Some supporters have had clothes bearing the rainbow flag confiscated. The seven European teams (including Belgium) who had planned to wear a colored “One Love” armband against discrimination at the World Cup in Qatar had also given up doing so in the face of the threat of “sporting sanctions”.
“FIFA has been very clear, they will impose sporting sanctions if our captains wear the armbands on the pitch. As national federations, we cannot ask our players to risk sporting sanctions, including yellow cards”, explained the seven federations.
