Football Australia expects rainbow symbol clearance at Women’s World Cup

The chief executive of Football Australia has told the Observer that he is “pretty confident and optimistic” players will be allowed to wear rainbow armbands at the Women’s World Cup, after holding talks with Fifa. In a highly significant development, James Johnson said there had been “meaningful dialogue” between the hosts and football’s governing body and that it was likely to lead to players having greater ability to express themselves.

In an exclusive interview, Johnson also revealed that discussions had taken place over permitting Indigenous First Nation flags to be flown inside stadiums at July and August’s competition in Australia and New Zealand, saying it was an important issue for his country and its team.

“We’ve had very good dialogue with Fifa and it’s meaningful,” said Johnson. “They are not paying lip service to this. We’re in the middle of that process and we’re pretty confident and optimistic that we’ll end up in a good place: a place where players have the ability to express themselves in certain areas, which keeps the players happy, it keeps the host nation happy, and also Fifa happy as well. So I do think there’ll be a resolution ahead of the Women’s World Cup.”

Johnson said that part of the discussions included plans to allow players to wear armbands to represent certain issues. “So if we’re talking about Australian players, it’s obviously LGBTQ+ and Indigenous rights, First Nation rights, but that doesn’t necessarily reflect the players all around the world,” he said. “But I think the players will be able to wear armbands around certain issues that they wish to express themselves on.”

Asked directly whether he expected to see players wearing rainbow armbands at the tournament, he replied: “I think