Harry Kane and Manuel Neuer will show solidarity with the LGBT+ community during Pride Month by wearing rainbow-coloured armbands at Wembley on Tuesday when England and Germany meet in the last 16 of Euro 2020.
Kane’s counterpart Neuer wore the armband in all three of Germany’s Group F games and during their warm-up game against Lativa on June 7.
The England captain has previously donned the multi-coloured symbol during the annual Rainbow Laces week while playing in the Premier League for Tottenham.
A post on England’s official Twitter account read: “Harry Kane will join Germany’s Manuel Neuer in wearing a rainbow captain’s armband for tomorrow’s game at Wembley Stadium to mark the end of Pride month, as the Three Lions stand in allyship with LGBTQ+ communities around the world.”
Harry Kane wears a rainbow captain’s armband during Rainbow Laces week while playing for Spurs
UEFA had investigated whether Neuer wearing the armband breached rules surrounding political gestures but the probe was dropped after European football’s governing body deemed it a symbol for diversity and having been worn for a “good cause”.
A request from the German Football Association and Munich’s mayor Dieter Reiter for the Allianz Arena to be illuminated in rainbow colours for their final group game against Hungary was denied by UEFA.
Reiter had said he wanted the stadium to be lit up in protest against a new law in Hungary that bans the dissemination of content in schools deemed to promote homosexuality and gender change.
UEFA denied a request for the Allianz Arena to be illuminated for Germany’s last group match at the Euros
The decision from UEFA was criticised by over 20 LGBT+ community groups across Europe, including Pride in Football (the UK umbrella organisation for LGBT+ supporters groups).
They wrote a letter to UEFA’s president Aleksander Ceferin and also hit out at inaction from the body over alleged incidents of homophobia and racism during Hungary’s two opening group games.
UEFA responded by defending its work on diversity and claiming the plea to turn the Allianz Arena rainbow-coloured was based on political grievances.
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While the Allianz Arena was not illuminated for the Group F game, other stadiums across Germany turned rainbow-coloured for the night, including the Max-Morlock-Stadion in Nuremberg, the Waldstadion, home of Eintracht Frankfurt, and the WWK Arena in Augsburg.
UEFA has also denied banning rainbow symbols from the fan zone in Budapest ahead of Sunday’s last-16 tie between the Netherlands and the Czech Republic.
Reports in the Dutch media had claimed Netherlands fans had been told by security guards not to display the Pride rainbow flag when entering the fan zone.
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