Soccer-World Cup captains to swap pennants denouncing hate

FIFA will feature special pennants denouncing discrimination in Thursday's World Cup fixtures, as the governing body continues to combat escalating online abuse.

Captains at Thursday’s ​World Cup fixtures will ​exchange special pennants ‌denouncing discrimination ​to mark the International Day for Countering Hate Speech, as FIFA revealed ‌it has blocked hundreds of thousands of abusive posts during the tournament.

The pre-match exchange will feature in all four of the ‌day’s fixtures: Czech Republic against South Africa, Mexico against South ‌Korea, Switzerland against Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Canada against Qatar. Organisers confirmed the pennants will bear the slogan “We Play Together. We Stand Against Hate,” written ⁠in ​English on one ⁠side and the teams’ native languages on the reverse. The initiative ⁠comes as football’s world governing body battles escalating online abuse. FIFA ​reported that its automated social media protection service, launched ahead ⁠of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, has removed more than 30 ⁠million ​abusive posts and comments to date. Since June 11, the service has deleted 388,000 harmful posts at the 2026 ⁠tournament, already eclipsing the 287,000 removals recorded across the entire ⁠2022 event.

Officials ⁠added that further anti-discrimination campaigns and stadium activations are scheduled to run throughout Thursday's match schedule.

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