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Wales Online
Wales Online
Sport
Ian Mitchelmore

Wales and England forced to ditch One Love armband amid 'unprecedented' FIFA threats to sanction Gareth Bale

Wales will not wear the One Love armband for their World Cup opener against the United States of America.

Rob Page's side had been determined to show their support for the campaign - which aims to "promote inclusion and send a message against discrimination of any kind".

However, FIFA have warned competing nations at the Qatar showpiece that they will be punished with sporting sanctions for making political messages.

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Punishments for going against their rules included possible fines while captain Gareth Bale was expected to be yellow carded instantly at kick-off in Wales' contest with the USA had he have chosen to wear the armband for the showdown at Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium.

On Monday morning, the Football Association of Wales were locked in talks with FIFA and other football associations in a bid to resolve the issue.

However, due to the threat of punishment by the governing body of world football, Wales - along with England - have performed a U-turn and opted against wearing the One Love armband.

A statement read: "FIFA has been very clear that it will impose sporting sanctions if our captains wear the armbands on the field of play.

"As national federations, we can’t put our players in a position where they could face sporting sanctions including bookings, so we have asked the captains not to attempt to wear the armbands in FIFA World Cup games.

"We were prepared to pay fines that would normally apply to breaches of kit regulations and had a strong commitment to wearing the armband. However, we cannot put our players in the situation where they might be booked or even forced to leave the field of play.

"We are very frustrated by the FIFA decision which we believe is unprecedented - we wrote to FIFA in September informing them of our wish to wear the One Love armband to actively support inclusion in football, and had no response.

"Our players and coaches are disappointed – they are strong supporters of inclusion and will show support in other ways."

Harry Kane had been expected to wear the One Love armband for England's Group B encounter with Iran this afternoon, although that will no longer be the case.

Wales' clash with the USA gets underway at 7pm.

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