World Cup 2022: Lotte Wubben-Moy 'won't be watching' tournament with Qatar hosting

Wubben-Moy plays for England and Arsenal

England defender Lotte Wubben-Moy says she volition not beryllium watching the men's 2022 World Cup due to the fact that it is successful Qatar.

"It's tough. As an England squad we each person beardown values," said 23-year-old Wubben-Moy, a subordinate of the victorious England Women's squad astatine Euro 2022 .

"A batch of those values aren't reflected successful the mode that we spot it successful Qatar."

• England guardant Beth Mead says holding World Cup successful Qatar is 'disappointing'
• Why are radical protesting astir the World Cup host?

The World Cup starts connected 20 November and runs until 18 December.

Homosexuality is amerciable successful Qatar due to the fact that it is considered immoral nether Islamic Sharia instrumentality with punishments ranging from fines to the decease sentence.

The big country's World Cup organisers person stated "everyone is welcome" to sojourn the state to ticker the shot matches and claimed nary 1 volition beryllium discriminated against.

However, Qatar 2022 main executive, Nasser al Khater, has said the authorities would not alteration its laws connected homosexuality, requesting visitors "respect our culture".

England skipper Harry Kane, on with the captains of 9 different teams from Europe, volition deterioration 'One Love' armbands to protestation against Qatar's anti-homosexuality laws.

"I deliberation it's a pugnacious speech to person and there's a batch of dialog astir it," added Wubben-Moy.

"I personally volition beryllium supporting the men's team, but I won't beryllium watching. I deliberation it's hard to speech about. But astatine the extremity of the day, we're 1 squad present astatine England and we cognize that they person an accidental to play astatine a World Cup.

"It's hard to look beyond that really."

Fifa precocious wrote to competing nations asking them to "now absorption connected the football" alternatively of the competition's arguable build-up.

The Fifa missive was criticised by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and LGBTQ+ campaigners successful England and Wales, portion 10 European shot associations - including those of England and Wales - said "human rights are cosmopolitan and use everywhere".

However, Conmebol, the South American shot confederation, says it is "time to permission controversies behind".

Wubben-Moy said: "Sport is simply a precise beardown conveyance for change.

"To underestimate that would beryllium naive, I think. I've seen a batch of the players person beardown viewpoints and I salute them and I privation them the champion successful looking to explicit that passim this World Cup.

"It's a World Cup and, for a batch of these players, they mightiness not ever play successful a World Cup again, truthful I can't remark connected them choosing to spell due to the fact that galore radical would instrumentality that aforesaid prime arsenic well.

"But I deliberation athletics is precise beardown for alteration and successful immoderate mode imaginable that they tin usage this accidental to assistance bring astir change, I deliberation that's important."