Romelu Lukaku in Belgium’s vibrant warm-up shirt (adidas)
The world’s football governing body, FIFA, has announced a ban on Belgium.
FIFA banned the European nation from wearing their vibrant warm-up shirt at the World Cup in Qatar.
Belgium will play their first match in the World Cup against Canada on Wednesday after which they will face Morocco, before treading tackles with Croatia in their last Group F game.
But they have now been forced to make some last-minute kit alterations at FIFA’s behest.
Belgium captain, Eden Hazard has also been stopped from wearing the OneLove captain armband.
Harry Kane of England, Gareth Bale of Wales and Virgil van Dijk of the Netherlands were all prepared to wear the OneLove armband on Monday until FIFA stepped in and failed to provide assurances that the captains would not receive a yellow card or a possible suspension for the gesture.
Belgium will not also wear their white away kit which has the word ‘love’, on the inside of the collar even though the word is not visible to supporters.
The reason for the change is because Belgium’s kits are inspired by the fireworks of Belgium’s famous music festival Tomorrowland, which aims to promote diversity, equality and inclusion.
“All countries are perplexed,” Peter Bossaert, head of Belgium’s Football Association, told reporters.
“The toughness of FIFA is shocking. We need to critically analyse our relationship.”
