Crystal Palace skipper Marc Guehi wrote ‘Jesus loves you’ on his captain's armband despite being explicitly warned against displaying religious messages by the Football Association.
The Premier League have championed the Rainbow Laces campaign over the past two matchdays, with the captains of every team in the top flight encouraged to wear a rainbow armband.
Every captain in the division, barring Sam Morsy of Ipswich who is a practising Muslim, opted to wear the themed armband and support the cause.
However, in both games, first against Newcastle on Saturday, Guehi has added his own message to the armband.
Guehi, raised a Christian by his church minister father, added 'I love Jesus' to the armband against Newcastle before adapting the message to 'Jesus loves you' against Ipswich on Tuesday.
The FA strictly prohibits political and religious slogans on sports equipment and reminded Guehi of the rules ahead of Tuesday night's game at Portman Road. Yet, the Eagles defender ignored the FA's explicit warning and could now face punishment from the association.
Speaking on Guehi’s decision to adorn the religious message on the armband, Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner said: “We respect every single player, especially Marc as our captain. I think everyone who knows him knows that he’s a fantastic player, a great guy - very humble.
“We shouldn’t make it bigger than he is. He is very respectful of everyone at the club. All of us in football are against discrimination and abuse. It’s a great campaign [Rainbow Laces].
“We spoke about it. I speak to Marc quite often, he’s my captain. He’s no child. He’s an adult who has his opinion.
“We accept and respect every opinion. The quote of this campaign is to be tolerant, Marc is very tolerant - everything is fine.”
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