A giant American flag belonging to American Outlaws—the largest of three official supporters groups for the U.S. men’s and women’s national soccer teams—has been displayed inside venues at four World Cups.
Last week, however, it wasn’t allowed into Los Angeles Stadium (temporarily renamed from SoFi Stadium) for the U.S. Men’s National Team’s World Cup opener against Paraguay, which it won in dominant fashion before a sold-out crowd of approximately 70,000.
“We submitted the flag for approval by FIFA, and it was denied for its size,” says Whitney Zaleski, operations manager for American Outlaws. “We’ve resubmitted it for approval for [the USMNT’s] next game in Seattle this Friday. It seems like it comes down to both FIFA and the stadium itself … things are kind of changing all the time.”
The rejected flag is one of several frustrations that U.S. fan-group leaders tell Front Office Sports they’ve encountered before the World Cup and during its opening week.
Their complaints are primarily tied to layers of approval from FIFA, stadium operators, security personnel, and U.S. Soccer. What they see as opaque, labyrinthine policies and procedures have left the American Outlaws and other fan groups confused about who is making the decisions—and a growing sense among U.S. supporters that they’re being pushed to the margins.
