The Premier League has reportedly terminated its partnership with LGBTQ+ charity Stonewall ahead of the upcoming season.
As a result, the Rainbow Laces initiative will be scrapped heading into the 2025-26 campaign, bringing to an end an eight-year partnership.
According to The Telegraph, the decision to ditch rainbow armbands and laces was taken in a meeting held with all 20 club captains on Thursday.
The report claims that ‘education through its community programmes would also remain a priority’.
Instead of continuing with the Rainbow Laces initiative, the Premier League will launch its own campaign to coincide with LGBTQ+ History Month in February.
It also saw an agreement reached for players to continue taking the knee despite the Lionesses opting against performing it during their victorious Euro 2025 campaign earlier this summer.
The Premier League has reportedly terminated its partnership with LGBTQ + charity Stonewall
As a result, the Rainbow Laces initiative will be scrapped heading into the 2025-26 campaign
Last season, Crystal Palace captain Marc Guehi was formally reprimand by the FA after the star wrote ‘I love Jesus’ on his rainbow captain’s armband
England defender Jess Carterrevealed duringEuro 2025 that she was scared to play in the latter stages of the tournament having been subjected to racist abuse.
Carter, 27, suffered the abuse in the aftermath of the Lionesses’ quarter-final victory over Sweden.
Her England team-mate Lucy Bronze subsequently called on social media companies to take action over online trolls after Carter was abused.
Carter, who played 70 minutes of the match which England finally won on penalties, said she had received a ‘lot’ of online hate after the game and announced she was stepping away from social media.
Full back Bronze, 33, launched a fiery condemnation of the vile comments aimed at Carter and revealed abuse has been on the rise in the women’s game as it has grown in popularity.
Bronze said: ‘We all know that any player of colour who’s played for England has probably gone through racist abuse. That’s a sad fact in this day and age,’ said Bronze.
‘(We’re feeling) anger and sadness that our team-mate has gone through this. We don’t want it to happen. We want to be focused on the football.
‘We want Jess and anybody else who puts on an England shirt to be brave, to be happy when they play for England.’
Meanwhile, Ipswich captain Sam Morsy was not be punished after refusing to wear the armband because of his religious beliefs
It also saw an agreement reached for players to continue taking the knee despite the Lionesses opting against performing it after Jess Carter was racially abused
Last season, Crystal Palace captain Marc Guehi was formally reprimand by the FA after the star wrote ‘I love Jesus’ on his rainbow captain’s armband.
Meanwhile, Ipswich captain Sam Morsy was not punished after refusing to wear the armband because of his religious beliefs.
As his refusal was not a rule breach – unlike Guehi’s message – the matter was deemed to be one for the club, rather than governing bodies.
Morsy, 33, is a British-born midfielder who plays for Egypt and is a practising Muslim and was the only one of 20 captains in the Premier League not to wear the armband.
Upon the end of its Rainbow Laces partnership with the Premier League, a Stonewall Spokesperson said: ‘Rainbow Laces has helped improve LGBTQ+ inclusion, acceptance and participation in sport at all levels, whether player, participant or fan.
‘Rainbow Laces has helped to significantly shift the dial and while it can still prove difficult for elite players themselves to be openly LGBTQ+ on the pitch, there are now some role models; at the grass-roots level it is easier to participate and as a fan the LGBTQ+ community has increasingly felt more accepted.’