Manchester United players abandoned the club’s plans to wear an Adidas jacket in support of the LGBTQ+ community ahead of Sunday’s Premier League match against Everton, after defender Noussair Mazraoui refused to participate in the initiative.
During the Rainbow Laces period, which takes place over the past two seasons, Premier League teams have been encouraged to show support for the LGBTQ+ community.
In previous years, United’s players wore a pride-themed jersey during warm-ups and a similar jacket for the walk-out before the game. This year, United had planned to have the players wear a walk-out jacket.
However, Morocco international Mazraoui, a £15m summer signing from Bayern Munich, told his teammates that he would not wear the jacket due to his Muslim faith.
As a result, the team decided that no player would wear the tracksuit to avoid singling out Mazraoui as the only player publicly refusing to participate. The decision was made just hours before the game on Sunday.
The Athletic has been informed that not all players in the dressing room agreed with the decision. In recent years, Manchester United has made significant strides in making the club a more inclusive environment for LGBTQ+ staff and supporters.
The Rainbow Devils supporters’ group was founded in 2019, and during the current Rainbow Laces period, where the Premier League urges clubs to show allyship with the LGBTQ+ community, United released an extended video on their website.
In it, defenders Jonny Evans and Harry Maguire spoke to a group of Rainbow Devils fans about the club’s inclusivity efforts, while captain Bruno Fernandes also emphasized the need for supporters to feel included and respected.
He described wearing his rainbow-colored captain’s armband as “a sign of respect” to help LGBTQ+ fans “feel supported” by the players.
However, the club had also collaborated with their largest sponsor, Adidas, to produce a tracksuit jacket for the players to wear during the walk-out in support of the campaign. This plan was abandoned just hours before the match.
United’s sponsorship deal with Adidas is worth £900 million ($1.1bn) over 10 years. A source with knowledge of the situation, who was not authorized to speak publicly, indicated that Adidas was disappointed by the decision, as United players had supported the initiative in previous years. Adidas declined to comment when approached by The Athletic.
United’s charitable arm, the Manchester United Foundation, also organized an event with over 50 young people from their partner high schools to “celebrate LGBTQ+ representation in sport” last week.
The event took place at The Cliff Training Ground and was part of the club’s outreach to the local community.
