Rainbow armbands are dividing opinion at Euro 2025

Some captains are wearing them, some are not.

Rainbow armbands at the Women’s European Championship are proving more divisive than perhaps intended for a symbol promoting tolerance and inclusion.

UEFA is giving team captains the option of wearing armbands with the bright colors of the rainbow flag or plain monocolored versions with the word “respect” when they play.

“Standard yellow and blue armbands are provided to all teams and rainbow armbands are available upon request,” UEFA told The Associated Press.

Both versions have been worn so far at the tournament in Switzerland, with the captains’ choices facing scrutiny for the meaning behind their decisions.

The rainbow armband is intended to show solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community, while it also stands for diversity.

“UEFA is committed to making football a safe and welcoming environment for everybody, independent of who we love, our gender identification or gender expression,” the governing body said before the women’s Euro 2022, where it also gave team captains the option of wearing rainbow armbands.

UEFA faced criticism the year before when it nixed Munich’s plans to illuminate its stadium in rainbow colors for Germany’s game against Hungary during the men’s European Championship.

The Germans wanted to protest to a law passed by Hungarian lawmakers the week before that prohibited sharing with minors any content portraying homosexuality or sex reassignment.

When Germany played France in their quarterfinal on Saturday, the German captain, Janina Minge, wore a rainbow armband while her French counterpart did not.

Switzerland captain Lia Wälti wore a rainbow armband in her team’s quarterfinal against Spain the day before. Her opposite, Irene Paredes, did not.

Norway captain Ada Hegerberg wore a rainbow armband, as did Wales captain Angharad James, Iceland’s Glódís Viggósdóttir, England’s Leah Williamson and others.

England defender Lucy Bronze also wore a rainbow wristband during her team’s quarterfinal win over Sweden, whose captain, Kosovare Asllani, also wore a rainbow armband.

Elena Linari became the first to wear a rainbow armband for Italy when she captained the side against Spain, but Cristiana Girelli wore a plain one when she returned for the quarterfinal against Norway.

France captain Griedge Mbock Bathy suggested the rainbow armband’s message is too restrictive because of its focus on LGBTQ+ rights.

“Highlighting a single issue also potentially excludes the others,” she said. “We cannot champion a single cause through our diverse group because there are so many causes to defend.”

Mbock said the France team is “so diverse that we cannot highlight just one cause. I think that the armband with the word ‘respect’ really represents what we want to convey as a message and that is the most important thing.”

When told that nine of the 16 countries participating at Euro 2025 wear the rainbow armband, France coach Laurent Bonadei defended his team’s choice not to.

“Our one has ‘respect’ written on it. Respect as a word gathers a lot of causes such as racism. I think the ‘respect’ one is really a nice one,” Bonadei said.

Swedish player Nilla Fischer, the former Wolfsburg captain, was the first in Germany to wear the rainbow armband in the women’s Bundesliga in 2017. She inspired others to follow suit, both in women’s and men’s sports.

Germany was a strong campaigner for rainbow armbands at the men’s World Cup in Qatar in 2022. That developed into a showdown with FIFA over the compromise “One Love” campaign, which featured a rainbow-type heart design that was supposed to be a symbol against discrimination. It was still largely seen as a snub to the host nation, where homosexual acts are illegal and its treatment of migrant workers was a decade-long controversy.

FIFA banned the armbands and threatened to book team captains who wore them, leading the German players to cover their mouths for the team photo before their opening game, suggesting they were being silenced.

Germany’s interior minister at the time, Nancy Faeser, who was also responsible for sports, wore a “One Love” armband in the stands beside FIFA president Gianni Infantino.

Qatari supporters later hit back by holding pictures of former Germany player Mesut Özil while covering their mouths during Germany’s match against Spain. They were referring to the racist abuse in Germany of Özil, a German-born descendant of Turkish immigrants, who became a scapegoat for Germany’s early World Cup exit in 2018.

Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann called for an end to political statements in 2024, saying they were too distracting for his players. The German men's team ultimately failed to deliver on the field.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Italy's Cristiana Girelli celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the Women's Euro 2025 quarterfinals soccer match between Norway and Italy at Stade de Geneve in Geneva, Switzerland, Wednesday, July 16, 2025. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP)

Spain's Irene Paredes in action during the Women's Euro 2025 quarterfinal soccer match between Switzerland and Spain at Wankdorf stadium in Bern, Switzerland, Friday July 18, 2025. (Anthony Anex/Keystone via AP)

Norway's Ada Hegerberg reacts to fans on the pitch after losing the Women's Euro 2025 quarterfinals soccer match between Norway and Italy at Stade de Geneve in Geneva, Switzerland, Wednesday, July 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

Switzerland's Lia Waelti, wearing a team captain rainbow armband, applauds the fans at the end of the Women's Euro 2025 quarterfinals soccer match between Spain and Switzerland at Stadion Wankdorf in Bern, Switzerland, Friday, July 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

A Ukrainian drone strike killed one person and wounded three others in the Russian city of Voronezh, local officials said Sunday.

A young woman died overnight in a hospital intensive care unit after debris from a drone fell on a house during the attack on Saturday, regional Gov. Alexander Gusev said on Telegram.

Three other people were wounded and more than 10 apartment buildings, private houses and a high school were damaged, he said, adding that air defenses shot down 17 drones over Voronezh. The city is home to just over 1 million people and lies some 250 kilometers (155 miles) from the Ukrainian border.

The attack came the day after Russia bombarded Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles overnight into Friday, killing at least four people in the capital Kyiv, according to Ukrainian officials.

For only the second time in the nearly four-year war, Russia used a powerful new hypersonic missile that struck western Ukraine in a clear warning to Kyiv and NATO.

The intense barrage and the launch of the nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile followed reports of major progress in talks between Ukraine and its allies on how to defend the country from further aggression by Moscow if a U.S.-led peace deal is struck.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday in his nightly address that Ukrainian negotiators “continue to communicate with the American side.”

Chief negotiator Rustem Umerov was in contact with U.S. partners Saturday, he said.

Separately, Ukraine’s General Staff said Russia targeted Ukraine with 154 drones overnight into Sunday and 125 were shot down.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

This photo provided by the Ukrainian Security Service on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, shows a fragment believed to be a part of a Russian Oreshnik intermediate range hypersonic ballistic missile that hit the Lviv region. (Ukrainian Security Service via AP)

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, second left, listens to British Defense Secretary John Healey during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Danylo Antoniuk)