Disinformation: UEFA urged the captains of football teams participating in EURO-2020 to carry “OneLove” armbands which Cristiano Ronaldo refused to do

Facebook users spread the news (1; 2) according to which during the EURO-2020 tournament UEFA obliged the captains of participating football teams to carry “OneLove” armbands which represented an LGBTQ+ symbol. However, Cristiano Ronaldo turned out to be the only captain who declined the demand to carry the mentioned armband.

Manuel Neuer, the captain of the German National Team, and Cristiano Ronaldo, the captain of the Portuguese National Team, are depicted in the attached image. As shown in the photo, Neuer really does wear an armband in support of the LGBTQ+ community, however, it is a different one from the “OneLove” campaign. The “OneLove” armband, which contains the inscription “One Love” and the heart in colors of the rainbow, is one of the products of the “OneLove” campaign. The Dutch Football Association started this anti-discrimination campaign in 2020 to spread the idea that “football unites millions of people all around the world from all places in society”.

Manuel Neuer carried the armband during the matches against France and Portugal in the 2020 European Championship. The fact that wearing the armband was not ordered by UEFA is proved by the fact that after Manuel Neuer’s appearance on the field with the armband UEFA began to investigate whether Neuer’s behavior violated their statute prohibiting athletes from making political statements. But UEFA soon issued a statement saying that Neuer was “doing good work” and therefore, would face no disciplinary action.

The armband that Neuer is wearing in the social media photo does not match the post's claim, since, as mentioned above, it is not a “OneLove” campaign armband (see photo comparison below).

OneLove armband. Source: BBC

The armband carried by Neuer in the disseminated photo. Source: BBC

Must be noted that the shown picture with the identical captions was spread virally in different languages. The news was also verified by British fact-checking organization LeadStories. In addition, they contacted UEFA asking whether it was mandatory to wear an armband for team captains. They answered that “there is no such regulation”.

Thus, the claim according to which UEFA urged the football team captains to carry an armband and only Cristiano Ronaldo denied the demand is false.