Republic of Ireland captain Katie McCabe announced she will not attend – or watch – this year's World Cup in Qatar.
"Obviously, what's going on over there isn’t great,” McCabe, one of a number of LGBT players in Vera Pauw's squad, told RTÉ. “Not a good look for football but the decision has been made. The World Cup will continue and hopefully there won’t be bad news stories around, it will just be football played and that’ll be it.
"I don't have time to watch it, to be honest. We’re straight back into Champions League football. For me, if Ireland aren’t in it, I don’t really fancy it so I think I’ll be giving that one a miss."
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McCabe and her Ireland teammates became the first Irish women’s team to qualify for the women's World Cup which will be taking place in Australia and New Zealand next summer.
Her comments come hours after an ambassador for the Qatar World Cup, Khalid Salman, said that homosexuality is “damage in the mind”. The former Qatar international also told German television broadcaster ZDF: "They have to accept our rules here. (Homosexuality) is haram (forbidden).”
McCabe went public with her relationship with fellow Irish international Ruesha Littlejohn back in 2019, in the hope of helping other people to come out. She said at the time: “Growing up, my dream was to play football for Ireland. A few years ago, I was lucky enough to achieve this dream.
"One of my favourite things about sport is that it brings people together, it gives people a sense of belonging, and it fills them with great pride and passion. Seeing the Aviva Stadium, our national arena for rugby and soccer lighting up the Dublin skyline in rainbow colours is truly amazing."
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