Both England and Wales are set to start their World Cup campaign on Monday - but even before a ball has been kicked in Qatar, both are poised to incur fines from FIFA.
That's because the likes of Harry Kane, Gareth Bale and seven other captains from countries across Europe have committed to wearing the "One Love" armband throughout the tournament, which begins when hosts Qatar meet with Ecuador on Sunday, to show their continued support to the LGBTQ+ community.
The rainbow coloured armband is part of an anti-discrimination initiative; same-sex relationships are currently outlawed in Qatar, with homosexuality even punishable by death under laws in the country.
Qatar's stance on homosexuality has been widely criticised in the run-up to the tournament - as well as FIFA's decision to stage the World Cup tournament in the country.
The likes of England and Wales had decided to don the One Love armband to show support for the LGBTQ+ community and raise awareness about the discrimination people face in Qatar - even though their official request to do so has been "ignored" by football's governing body for over two months, according to FA chief executive Mark Bullingham, via Sky News.
Kane insisted last month that he was ready to wear the armband regardless of FIFA's stance. "We've decided we want to wear it and that's our thought process going forward," the Tottenham striker said in October.
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"It'll be down to FIFA and the FA - I'm sure they'll be in contact with them. I haven't heard anything personally yet so at the moment we're on line to wear it so if anything changes we'll cross that bridge when it comes."
Bale also confirmed earlier this week that he would be donning the rainbow coloured armband for Wales' opening Group B match against the United States on Monday.
The Welshman said: “Obviously, I think us as footballers, the most we can do is make awareness and it's for people higher up to make those decisions, and hopefully make the change for the better, but yeah we support everything. In terms of the armband.
"We'll be supporting everything and doing as much as we can to hopefully get change in the right way.”
Bale's teammate, Aaron Ramsey, also outlined that the Welsh national team were unhappy with elements of the decision to hand Qatar the World Cup.
“Obviously, we disagree with a lot of things going on over there, and as an organization we've made our stance very clear on that," Ramsey said at a press conference.
"The FAW have been working very closely with the government and FIFA, to try and you know move things forward, but yeah for us as players we're going to be wearing their armband and showing our support, and you know hopefully highlighting a few other issues over there as well, but ultimately as well we're there to play football and to represent our country at a World Cup."
Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate has also spoken strongly on inclusivity ahead of the tournament and has also touched on concerns over human rights in the country.
"We’re very strong on inclusivity," Southgate said. "We understand the challenges that this tournament brings . . . the human rights challenges.
"We’ve always spoken about issues we think should be talked about, particularly ones we feel we can affect."
France, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark and Switzerland will also be wearing the armband throughout the 28 day tournament.
