Wales wears RAINBOW sleeve in defiant stand at Qatar World Cup

Wales survive early scare as Iran goal is ruled offside after Welsh captain Gareth Bale and teammates wear a RAINBOW sleeve in defiant stand ahead of crucial Qatar World Cup clash

Welsh players wore a rainbow sleeve during their warm-up ahead of the Iran match at the Qatar World Cup in a defiant stand.

Captain Gareth Bale led the way as all 26 players wore a white top with multi-coloured stripes running down each shoulder pre-match.

As the players returned down the tunnel, they later re-emerged in their normal red kit with white stripes on each sleeve for the crucial match.

Wales survived an early scare after Iran took the lead in the opening minutes, but VAR intervened to rule it out for offside.

The warm-up tops come after FIFA threatened a number of European nations with sporting sanctions if captains went ahead with plans to wear the OneLove armband during their opening games.

Gareth Bale applauds as he warms up prior to the Qatar 2022 World Cup Group B football match between Wales and Iran

Jonny Williams (L) and Dylan Levitt of Wales prepare to enter the pitch for warm ups prior to the match

Jonny Williams (L) and Dylan Levitt of Wales prepare to enter the pitch for warm ups prior to the match

The federations of England, Wales, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany and Denmark had said on Monday they had been put under pressure by FIFA, who had threatened to issue yellow cards to any player wearing the multi-coloured armband. 

The German Football Association media director Steffen Simon told German Deutschlandfunk radio that England, who had been the first team to be expected to wear it on Monday in their game against Iran, had been threatened with multiple sporting sanctions to prevent them from making the gesture in support of LGBT+ rights. 

The threat led to all seven countries abandoning the plans.

Homosexuality is illegal in the Gulf state and punishable by up to seven years in prison.   

***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk