Following Orkun Kökçü from Feyenoord, Redouan el Yaakoubi from Excelsior will also not wear the OneLove captain’s armband this weekend. The Kralingers will announce this on Wednesday through the official channels. Excelsior emphasizes El Yaakoubi’s social involvement, but says he ‘explicitly does not want’ to oblige his captain to do anything.
“As a club, we will also do everything we can this weekend to contribute to this social discussion,” writes general director Daan Bovenberg of Excelsior. “While we support the message both as a club and as captain, in line with the previous OneLove campaign, our captain Redouan el Yaakoubi will be wearing a band that reads ‘Respect’ instead of ‘OneLove’. Redouan is a champion of equality in the world and someone who strives for general social respect, yet the question of wearing the OneLove band embarrasses him.”
???????? ????????????????????: #OneLove during Excelsior – SC Cambuur ???? #strong together
— Excelsior Rotterdam (@excelsiorrdam) March 15, 2023
In October last year, El Yaakoubi also refused to wear the OneLove band. “We as captains also have a choice in that,” the captain said in conversation with ESPN. “I hope that the world respects that of me too, that I also have standards and values in that respect. It does not alter the fact that I respect everyone and that everyone can be there, one hundred percent. I hope everyone also accepts my standards and respects values, as I do with everyone else.” Excelsior emphasizes on Wednesday that the club and El Yaakoubi speak out against racism and discrimination every day of the week.
The KNVB recently announced that it will be organizing a new OneLove promotion in the weekend from 17 to 19 March. Two days later, the International Day against Racism and Discrimination takes place, about which the union encourages captains in the Eredivisie and the Kitchen Champion Division to wear the special OneLove band. However, the previous OneLove promotion caused quite a stir. Like El Yaakoubi, Kökçü refused to wear the belt. The former found the action incompatible with his beliefs, while El Yaakoubi did not find the band all-encompassing. Ajax captain Dusan Tadic covered the OneLove band under his normal captain’s armband.
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