There are just under four weeks until the start of the World Cup. The German women’s soccer team is currently preparing in Herzogenaurach for the tournament in Australia and New Zealand. And if Germany’s captain Alexandra Popp has her way, she would like to set an example for diversity and tolerance there.
“We addressed the issue of the rainbow tie that we would very much like to play with,” said Popp on Monday at the DFB media day in Herzogenaurach, adding: “We are in really good talks with Fifa, which I think is nice – because I felt like it was totally kept away from the men.”
The world football association would be much more open to the topic than at the men’s World Cup in Qatar at the end of 2022. There had been a major controversy about the so-called one love armband, which FIFA had banned. A heart in bright rainbow colors can be seen on the pad and the slogan “One Love” can be read. As a consequence of the quarrels, the German men’s selection returned to the black, red and gold bandage.
The world association then announced that it would enter into dialogue with the associations. Recently there had been some confusion in the debate about the symbolic captain’s armbands. At a workshop, Fifa had declared that no other armband was permitted at the Women’s World Cup than the official Fifa captain’s armband. That’s why Popp will only wear the symbolic rainbow tie in test matches in the future, according to the DFB side. The world association emphasized shortly thereafter that no decision had yet been made.
Popp has now confirmed that there is no result yet. “We are also completely fine with it if we play with a different bandage afterwards. If we play with One Love, then we can also play with our rainbow armband,” said the 32-year-old striker from DFB Cup winners VfL Wolfsburg.
Most recently, the head of the Australian Football Association had expressed optimism that players would be allowed to wear rainbow armbands at the Women’s World Cup. After “very good and significant” talks with the world association Fifa, he was “quite confident” in this regard, said James Johnson in an interview with the British Sunday newspaper “Observer”. He expects that there will be a solution before the World Cup finals from July 20th to August 20th in Australia and New Zealand.
