Monday 11 November 2024, 17:30

FIFA support for LGBTQ+ football at 2024 IGLFA World Championship in Argentina

  • FIFA provided equipment, including match balls and captains’ armbands, for the 25th International Gay and Lesbian Football Association World Championship

  • Tournament was played between 3 and 9 November 2024 in Buenos Aires, Argentina

  • The 36-team competition seeks to raise awareness around discrimination and equality

FIFA has shown its support for the LGBTQ+ football community by actively participating in the International Gay and Lesbian Football Association (IGLFA) World Championship XXV in Buenos Aires, Argentina. FIFA provided equipment, ranging from the match balls and substitutes’ bibs to the captains’ armbands and the referees’ yellow and red cards, and gave a welcome address to teams as part of its backing for the event. FIFA Diversity & Anti-Discrimination Advisor Pavel Klymenko was present at the tournament, which featured 36 men's and women's 11- and 7-a-side teams. It was supported for the first time by the Argentinian Football Association (AFA) and organised by Argentina’s first sexually diverse football team, Los Dogos.

“As President and founder of the IGLFA, I would like to thank FIFA, the AFA and Los Dogos for supporting and hosting teams from all over the world who travelled here as ambassadors of LGBTQ+ sports and shared in the hospitality and culture of the Argentinian people during the IGLFA World Championship XXV,” said John Natale. “This tournament has driven a lot of social change in Argentina. We wanted to hold it here to raise awareness of discrimination towards the LGBTQ+ community in football in particular,” added Claudio Blanco, Los Dogos Coordinator and organiser of the tournament, which took place between 3-9 November in the Argentinian capital. “We hope that progress will continue to be made in our country through constant work with the AFA.” Aligned with Goal 6 of its Strategic Objectives for the Global Game: 2023-2027, FIFA’s No Discrimination campaign was also in focus at the tournament to emphasise FIFA’s commitment to making football available to all and to underline its zero-tolerance policy towards any form of discrimination.

The fruit of collaboration with the UN Human Rights Office, the No Discrimination campaign aims to raise awareness and educate people with the ultimate goal of ridding football of discrimination. FIFA's messaging was visible during the games played at the AFA’s Lionel Andrés Messi training complex and the Estadion Diego Armando Maradona, home of local club Argentinos Juniors. In addition to the support, FIFA has also signed a seed funding agreement with the IGLFA. Running from October 2024 to December 2026, the agreement underpins FIFA’s commitment to the tournament and the LGBTQ+ football community.