Lleida banned from wearing a shirt with Catalan flag colors

The Lleida Esportiu was banned from playing with a shirt with the Catalan flag colours on Sunday. The football club denounced on Twitter that the Spanish Football Federation prohibited them from wearing this shirt and threatened them to suspend the match if they disobeyed.

Playing in the Spanish Second Division, the Lleida Esportiu wanted to wear the shirt with the Catalan colors in order to support the Catalan Government and to protest against latest Spain’s actions. Despite having been previously informed, their opponents, the Atlètic Saguntí, travelled to Lleida only with its first kit.

In response to the prohibition, the club uploaded a photo of the team wearing their official blue shirt on Twitter and specified that they did so because they were “obliged to”. After the match, the club also denounced that referees refused to put on record that the team was not allowed to play with the shirt with the Catalan flag colors.