England World Cup captain Millie Bright will wear a different FIFA-approved armband during each match at the tournament to raise awareness for a range of social causes.
Like at the men’s World Cup in Qatar, teams are unable to wear the ‘OneLove’ rainbow armband in support of LGBTQ+ rights.
Instead, players are able to choose from eight alternative armbands and the Lionesses intend to wear a new one for each game at the World Cup.
England kick-off their campaign on Saturday with a first group game against Haiti in Brisbane, when the armband ‘Unite for Inclusion’ will be worn.
Following that, the support will switch to ‘Unite for Indigenous People’ for the second match against Denmark and then ‘Unite for Gender Equality’ in the final group game with China.
Should they progress to the knockout stages, the England squad will meet again to discuss what armband to wear for further games.
“We wanted to go with FIFA’s proposal. As a group, we felt really strongly about all the causes, and we couldn’t separate one from the other,” said Bright, who has been passed fit for England’s opener this weekend after a knee injury.
“We feel that they are all important and deserve recognition and our support.
“We’ve only just come to a decision recently, as we wanted to take time to process it all and to make sure we spoke collectively.
“As a team, we know what we stand for, what we believe in and we also know the changes that we want to make.
“So regardless of an armband, we would like to think our actions and our morals represent everything that we believe in and stand for.”
