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Late to the party: Wales only qualified for the World Cup in Qatar after beating Ukraine in the playoffs
Photo Credit: IMAGO/David Davies / IMAGO/PA Images
Wales have qualified for a World Cup for the first time since 1958, but some federation and national team officials will boycott the finals in Qatar over homosexual discrimination in the desert state.
"They will not travel to the tournament, it is absolutely their right," association chief Noel Mooney told the BBC.
Homosexuality is banned in Qatar and there are draconian penalties.
Even the death penalty is theoretically possible.
The World Cup finals (November 21 to December 18) have also been the subject of criticism around the world for other human rights issues.
On the other hand, Mooney does not consider a complete boycott of the Welsh national team to be "right".
They want to use the tournament as a “platform” to “try to improve life there and have a good dialogue about issues such as human rights and migrant workers”.
The association will "play a very active role," Mooney said.
The Rainbow Wall, the official LGBTQ+ fan organization in Wales, had previously announced that it would not be traveling to Qatar.
The team around superstar Gareth Bale had secured the last European ticket for the World Cup with a 1-0 win in the play-off final against Ukraine.
Amnesty International recently countered the hope of sport as a driver for social change with the statement that in Qatar women and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people (LGBTQI+) "continue to be discriminated against both by law and in everyday life". .
DFB director Oliver Bierhoff had described the awarding of a tournament as the "sharpest sword" in order to push for the necessary changes.
However, the changes would have to “happen before the contract is awarded and not afterwards, otherwise you no longer have any leverage to enforce them,” said Bierhoff.
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