‘Onelove’ armbands sell out after ban

UTRECHT (Holland): Call it the law of unintended consequences. The “Onelove” armbands FIFA banned at the World Cup in Qatar are suddenly selling like hotcakes.

The armbands, intended to send a message of tolerance, connection and opposition to all forms of discrimination, have been in the global spotlight since FIFA threatened several European team captains with yellow cards if they wore them to support lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people in Qatar, where homosexuality is illegal.

Now the company that makes the bands in Utrecht says they are sold out after shipping 10,000, mostly in the past two weeks.

“The big boom came actually with the World Cup coming up and for sure the statement of FIFA to not allow these captain bands on the field,” said Badge Direct BV CEO Roland Heerkens in an interview.

The design features a rainbow flag in the shape of a heart with a number 1 in the middle, surrounded by the text “One Love” on either side and the words that “football connects” in cursive below.

The KNVB campaign opposes discrimination on the basis of race, skin colour, sexual orientation, culture, faith, nationality, gender, age and “all other forms of discrimination.”

An initial boost came when team leaders from Belgium, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Norway, Wales, Sweden and Switzerland decided to use them.

The bands are priced at just above manufacturing cost, at €4.99 (RM23).