{"id":38062,"date":"2026-06-25T20:46:30","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T18:46:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=38062"},"modified":"2026-06-25T21:48:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T19:48:16","slug":"fifa-gives-green-light-for-rainbow-flags-at-egypt-v-iran-world-cup-clash","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/fifa-gives-green-light-for-rainbow-flags-at-egypt-v-iran-world-cup-clash\/","title":{"rendered":"FIFA gives green light for rainbow flags at Egypt v Iran World Cup clash"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>Fans will be allowed to bring rainbow flags when Egypt face Iran in Seattle&#8217;s designated &#8220;Pride Match&#8221; at the World Cup, FIFA said on Thursday, setting up an awkward \u200bcollision between local celebrations and two nations where homosexuality is criminalised.<\/div>\n<div>\nFriday&#8217;s group \u200cgame falls on Seattle&#8217;s Pride weekend, a scheduling quirk that emerged only after December&#8217;s draw pitted the two Muslim-majority countries against each other.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;General statements of human rights, \u200bincluding rainbow flags and other flags representing sexual orientation and gender identity, are permitted under the FIFA World Cup 2026 Stadium Code of Conduct and may be displayed inside stadiums.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div>\nFIFA added that items \u200bwill be allowed provided they are used &#8220;in a manner consistent with the code,&#8221; which \u200blimits the size of flags or banners and prohibits items deemed &#8220;political.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>FIFA \u200chas \u2060distanced itself from the Pride festivities, emphasising that the celebrations are organised by Seattle&#8217;s local World Cup committee and not the global soccer body.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;I must clarify that there will be no &#8216;Pride Match&#8217; at the World Cup,&#8221; FIFA President Gianni Infantino told Swiss magazine Die \u200bWeltwoche in January.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;There will \u200bbe a FIFA \u2060World Cup match in Seattle and, on the same day, events organised by external organisations will be taking place in the city. \u200bBut that has nothing to do with the match itself.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":35279,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-38062","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"FIFA \u200chas \u2060distanced itself from the Pride festivities.","published_date":"","news_description":"FIFA \u200chas \u2060distanced itself from the Pride festivities.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/38062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/38062\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38063,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/38062\/revisions\/38063"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=38062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}