Belgium cannot attend the World Cup in Qatar while sporting its colorful warm-up shirt, according to FIFA.
On Wednesday, Belgium will face Canada to open their World Cup campaign. In Group F, Roberto Martinez’s team will also face Morocco and Croatia.
But at FIFA’s request, Belgium has been forced to make some last-minute changes to their uniform days before their tournament begins.
Before FIFA intervened on Monday and failed to guarantee that players would not receive a warning or potential suspension for the gesture, Eden Hazard was scheduled to wear the OneLove armband.
Hazard will now follow in the footsteps of Harry Kane, Gareth Bale, and Virgil van Dijk by refusing to wear the armband for their World Cup games on Monday.
Additionally, Belgium’s white away uniform had to be changed to hide the word “love,” which is located on the inside of the collar and is not visible to spectators.
FIFA has expressed displeasure over Belgium’s warm-up shirt, though, which the players were supposed to wear on the field before the game.
The reason for the modification is that Tomorrowland, a famous music festival in Belgium, which aims to promote equality, inclusion, and diversity, served as the inspiration for the kits.
Stefan Van Loock, a representative for Belgium, asserts that FIFA made the requests because of a “commercial link” with Tomorrowland.
The ‘o’ of ‘love’ on Belgium’s away kit features the festival’s logo, and FIFA asserts that the warm-up shirt’s colors are a nod to Tomorrowland despite the absence of any logos.
All nations are confused, according to Peter Bossaert, the president of the Belgian Football Association.
The majority of his coworkers were at the opening game, but he doubts they were aware of the spectacle. We also had other worries.
The reality is that none of us can tolerate FIFA’s behavior. even I cannot.
The FIFA rules are incredibly strict. We must evaluate our relationship critically.
FIFA needs us, but we also need FIFA. Future events will determine how we move forward.
