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'OneLove' armbands sell out after World Cup ban

The armbands are intended to send a message of tolerance, connection and opposition to all forms of discrimination
The armbands are intended to send a message of tolerance, connection and opposition to all forms of discrimination

The 'OneLove' armbands banned by FIFA at the World Cup in Qatar have sold out.

The armbands are intended to send a message of tolerance, connection and opposition to all forms of discrimination.

They have been in the global spotlight since FIFA threatened several European team captains with yellow cards if they wore them to support LGBTQ people in Qatar, where homosexuality is illegal.

Now the company that makes the bands in the Netherlands says it is sold out after shipping 10,000 of them.

Badge Direct BV CEO Roland Heerkens said: "The big boom came actually with the World Cup coming up and for sure the statement of FIFA to not allow these captain bands on the field."

The bands were originally launched in 2020 as part of an inclusiveness campaign by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB).

The design features a rainbow flag in the shape of a heart with a number one in the middle, surrounded by the text "One Love" on either side and the words "football connects" in cursive below.

The KNVB campaign opposes discrimination on the basis of race, skin colour, sexual orientation, culture, faith, nationality, gender, age and "all other forms of discrimination".

An initial boost came when team leaders from Belgium, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Norway, Wales, Sweden and Switzerland decided to use them.

Mr Heerkens said demand had only been "so-so" until the summer, with orders coming from around the world from people who want "to have the band and make a statement, all the way up to the European Parliament, who just ordered 500 pieces".


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