Premier League did not 'ban' rainbow-coloured captain's armbands and laces

"The Premier League has announced a ban on rainbow-coloured captain's armbands and shoelaces for the new 2025-2026 season," reads a Malay-language Facebook post on August 9, 2025. 

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Screenshot of the false post taken on September 5, 2025 with an orange X added by AFP

Team captains had worn rainbow armbands as part of a campaign to promote LGBTQ inclusion in sport (archived link). 

But it faced pushback from some players -- Ipswich Town captain Sam Morsy, a Muslim, did not wear the rainbow armband, while Crystal Palace's Marc Guehi, a devout Christian, wore an armband with the handwritten message "I love Jesus" during a match in December 2024.

English daily The Telegraph reported on August 8 that club captains had agreed "the armband would no longer be used to promote specific campaigns and would feature only the Premier League logo" (archived link). 

Similar claims about the purported ban appeared on Facebook, with many comments spreading anti-LGBTQ sentiment and applauding the purported ban.

One comment said: "Enough with the agenda of forcing people to accept LGBTQ. Even players who refuse are being punished by the league organisers."

Another said: "Normalcy is back". 

When contacted, a spokesperson for the league directed AFP to a BBC interview with Richard Masters, the Premier League's Chief Executive, who said that its partnership with Stonewall "came to a natural conclusion" (archived link). 

"In February we will be announcing new plans to reiterate that simple message of inclusion, which sat behind Rainbow Laces, that everyone is welcome in football and everyone is welcome at the Premier League.

"We're not taking a step back, or even a step sideways. We're taking a step forward and talking in our own voice," Masters told the BBC.

The game's laws say team captains must wear armbands authorised by the relevant competition organiser or a single-coloured armband, but do not specifically forbid rainbow armbands and laces (archived link).

AFP has debunked similar claims Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo refused to wear a rainbow armband while captaining his country at Euro 2020.