The football governing body, FIFA, has sanctioned Belgium for wearing unapproved kits at the 2022 World Cup hosted by Qatar.
FIFA, however, prohibited Belgium from wearing their colourful warm-up shirt at the World Cup.
The team which is known as Red Devils since 1906 would commence their World Cup crusade against Canada on November 23, 2022, with Morocco and Croatia in Group F.
FIFA took action against Belgians just a few hours to their opener, mounting pressure on Belgium to make an adjustment to their kits.
Eden Hazard was spelt out to wear the OneLove armband until FIFA stopped it on November 21, 2022 without assurances that the players would not receive a yellow card or a possible suspension for wearing it.
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Other players including Harry Kane, Gareth Bale and Virgil van Dijk decided not to wear the armband for their World Cup games on Monday, as Hazard will join them on Wednesday following FIFA’s decision.
There was pressure also on Belgium to change their white away jersey to cover up the word ‘love’, which is on the inside of the collar but not visible to supporters.
The reason for the change to Belgium’s kits, it was gathered, was as a result of it being championed by the fireworks of Belgium’s famous music festival ‘Tomorrowland’, which that intended to foster diversity, equality and inclusion.
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Responding, the head of Belgium football association said all countries were not at ease over FIFA’s action against the country.
‘All countries are perplexed. Most of my colleagues were at the opening match, I don’t think they saw anything of the spectacle. We had other concerns.
‘The fact is that all of us cannot live with the attitude of FIFA. Not even myself. The toughness of FIFA is shocking. We need to criticallyanalyzee our relationship.
‘We need FIFA, but they also need us. We will see in the future how to proceed,” he said.
