At her DFB farewell game, Alexandra Popp actually wanted to play with the rainbow armband on her arm. But the referee prohibited her from doing so.
On the referee’s instructions, Alexandra Popp had to change her captain’s armband shortly before the start of the game in her last international match. After Popp initially led the German soccer players onto the field with the rainbow armband in the 1-2 loss against Australia, she took it off again after a tip from the referee Maria Moratta from Italy and instead put a bandage in Germany colors over her arm. According to dpa information, Marotta referred to the rules of the world association Fifa, according to which the captain’s armband must either have a dominant color or be worn in the national colors.
Marotta acted correctly from a purely technical point of view. During friendly games, the organizing association can decide which captain’s armbands should be worn. However, the DFB had registered the Australia game with FIFA so that it could also be counted towards the world rankings. “Accordingly, such friendly matches will also be played in accordance with the applicable FIFA rules,” said the DFB. “It is not customary to have the captain’s armband released during friendly matches.” Giulia Gwinn was allowed to wear the rainbow armband in the 4-3 win in England.
“Of course it would have been nice if I could have worn the bandage,” Popp said afterwards about the rainbow bandage. This stands for “a certain symbol” from the DFB team, for “a clear statement”. It was also a mystery to her as to “why we changed her”. But she also liked going into her 145th international match with the Germany armband around her arm.