U.S. Soccer Partners With You Can Play Project to Support LGBTQ+ Pride Month
U.S. Men’s and Women’s National Teams to Wear Rainbow-Colored Numbers During June Friendlies; Pride Month Learning Materials Available at “One Nation” Hub
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CHICAGO (June 8, 2021) – As part of its “One Nation” social responsibility efforts to promote diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, U.S. Soccer will once again partner with the You Can Play Project to celebrate LGBTQ+ Pride month during friendly matches this June. The You Can Play Project is an organization dedicated to ensuring equality, respect and safety for all athletes, coaches, and fans without regard for sexual orientation and/or gender identity.
The U.S. Men’s and Women’s National Teams will wear pride-inspired rainbow numbers during certain June friendlies. The USMNT will suit up in the numbers vs. Costa Rica on June 9 in Sandy, Utah (7 p.m. ET; ESPN2, UniMás, TUDN). The USWNT will do the same during its first two games of the Summer Series, presented by AT&T 5G, when it faces Portugal on June 10 (8:30 p.m. ET; FS1) and Jamaica on June 13 (10 p.m. ET; FS1) in Houston.
The game-issued jerseys for each player on the roster for the USMNT match and one of the two USWNT matches in Houston will be put up for auction following the games, with proceeds donated to You Can Play. More information on the auction will be announced in the near future. This will be the third time the USMNT and USWNT have worn pride-inspired rainbow numbers.
In addition to the jerseys, the USMNT and USWNT captains will wear game-specific rainbow arm bands and pride-inspired rainbow corner flags will be used during the matches. Fans can also purchase special pride-inspired U.S. Soccer rainbow merchandise, which will be available at the U.S. Soccer Store. During the month of June, a portion of proceeds of participating products
will benefit You Can Play.
U.S. Soccer and You Can Play have also joined forces to create guides on pronouns and LGBTQ+ terminology to promote an inclusive locker room. The guides will be posted on U.S. Soccer’s “One Nation” digital hub for fans to download and use within their own environments.
As a long-time supporter of the LGBTQ community, U.S. Soccer promoted the hashtag #OneNation in 2016 to show support for the victims of the Pulse Night Club shooting. USMNT captain Michael Bradley wore a special rainbow armband with the One Nation inscription, auctioning off the armband and his jersey and making a matching donation.
The U.S. Men’s and Women’s National Teams have played friendly matches with rainbow-numbered jerseys twice in the years since and donated money to You Can Play after auctioning the game-issued uniforms.