Among other things, that clause expressly prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation. FIFA came under fire in 2022 (archived here) for requiring national team players to forgo wearing.
Insignia meant to raise awareness of the status of LGBTQ+ rights in Qatar, the host country for the 2022 World Cup. That also had an impact on some fans (archived here).
However, as of this writing, there were no reports corroborating the alleged public notification regarding the ban of pride flags based on a thorough search of the FIFA website using the terms mentioned here (archived here).
No pertinent news stories about the alleged ban were found when searching Google News using the keywords seen above (archived here).
Lead Stories got in touch with Fare, an anti-discrimination organization for football in Europe (archived here). On November 19, 2025, Piara Powar, its Executive Director, posted on WhatsApp:
Lead Stories reached out to FIFA and MLS for more information. This article will be updated accordingly if we hear back. You can find more Lead Stories fact checks of sports-related allegations here.
