Wales players to get chance to share views on issues surrounding Qatar World Cup

Wales’ players are to be canvassed over their views relating to issues surrounding the Qatar World Cup.

The move comes as England skipper Harry Kane aims to hold talks with other national team captains so they can be “unified” in their approach to Qatar’s stance on gay rights and its treatment of migrant workers.

Male homosexuality is punishable by a prison sentence and same-sex marriages are not recognised by the government, while Qatar’s poor human rights record has plagued the Gulf state since it was controversially awarded the finals in 2010.

Wales and captain Gareth Bale are now part of the conversation after achieving qualification for the nation’s first World Cup since 1958.

On LGBTQ+ issues, Football Association of Wales chief executive Noel Mooney said: “This morning there has already been some messaging going on with the Welsh Government about our stance.

“The players, their views, do they use the platform to call out things themselves?

“We’ve liaised with UEFA about this for quite a while before we qualified.

“They’ve taken on the mantle as our European confederation, liaising directly with the Qatar Supreme Council, which is organising the World Cup with the Qatari Government.

“UEFA put together a working group, and we’ve joined it, to pool concerns, raise issues, have ground visits. To see the issues behind the scenes and the laws of the country.

“We’re a very open and transparent organisation and we look forward to discussing all these issues leading up to the competition and discussing our stance on things.

“How we’re going to communicate with Qatar and the world, but working very much with UEFA as the European body to communicate and liaise.”

Wales became the 30th nation team to qualify for the 32-team tournament by beating Ukraine in Sunday’s play-off final.

Mooney says the belated nature of their qualification has left them facing an “uphill battle” over logistics with their World Cup opener against the United States on November 21 just over five months away.

“We brought our management team in on Monday morning because tickets and accommodation has to be done,” Mooney told BBC Radio Wales.

“Because we are one of the last teams to qualify we are facing an uphill battle to to be honest to get everything done.

“The camp is done as we had to provisionally book it in January.

“But getting our fans there is right at the top of my mind at the moment.”

Wales are due to play all three of their group games against England, the US and Iran at the 50,000-capacity Ahmad bin Ali Stadium.

Mooney said: “FIFA protocols means we only get five per cent of the stadium. Five per cent of the stadium is not a whole lot.

“We have to work with FIFA and other angles to try and get as many tickets as we can for our supporters.

“We’ve got a huge membership (Wales have 25,000 Red Wall members), a huge demand that we saw on Sunday.

“We can feel it from supporters and companies and we should announce information later this week how fans can access tickets.”