LAST UPDATE | 22 Nov 2022
FIFA HAVE REQUESTED Belgium to remove the word ‘Love’ from their away jersey for commercial reasons, the Belgian FA has confirmed to The42.
The Belgian away jersey features the word ‘Love’ written on the inside collar as part of a collaboration with the music festival Tomorrowland, who are not an official Fifa World Cup sponsor.
With Fifa’s commercial rules forbidding the display of logos or names of non-sponsors within stadiums – Visa, for instance, are the only card payment company accepted at kiosks as they are an official sponsor – the word ‘Love’ is deemed in contravention of those rules.
Belgium will not get new kits made and delivered to Qatar, and instead will play Canada tomorrow night with the word ‘Love’ covered up.
The ‘Love’ jersey issue is separate to Fifa’s banning of the rainbow-coloured One Love armband, which Belgium and other European teams dropped yesterday afternoon following a separate armband edict from Fifa.
Fifa announced on Saturday that captains would wear a certain slogan on their armbands in each round of the World Cup, which was at odds with the ‘One Love’ slogan. This meant the latter technically became a breach of Fifa’s rules around equipment, meaning any captain wearing the ‘One Love’ armband would have been booked.
Belgium kick off their World Cup campaign against Canada tomorrow.
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