Katie McCabe has revealed that she will not travel to this year's World Cup in Qatar.
The Republic of Ireland captain, who is one of a number of LGBT players in Vera Pauw's squad, says Qatar's gay rights record is not a good look for football and revealed she will be giving the men's tournament, which kicks off later this month, a miss.
McCabe and her Ireland teammates made history last month by becoming the first Irish women's team to qualify for a major tournament, with the women's World Cup taking place in Australia and New Zealand next summer.
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She told RTE: "Obviously, what's going on over there isn’t great, not a good look for football but the decision has been made.
"The World Cup will continue and hopefully there won’t be bad news stories around, it will just be football played and that’ll be it.
"I don't have time to watch it, to be honest. We’re straight back into Champions League football. For me, if Ireland aren’t in it, I don’t really fancy it so I think I’ll be giving that one a miss."
McCabe's comments come after an ambassador for the Qatar World Cup claimed that homosexuality is “damage in the mind”.
Former Qatar international Khalid Salman told German television broadcaster ZDF: "They have to accept our rules here. (Homosexuality) is haram. You know what haram (forbidden) means?”
When asked why it was haram, Salman said: "I am not a strict Muslim, but why is it haram? Because it is damage in the mind."
Arsenal attacker McCabe has been in a relationship with fellow Irish international Ruesha Littlejohn for the past number of years, with the pair going public in 2019 in the hope of helping other people to come out.
McCabe said at the time: “Growing up, my dream was to play football for Ireland. A few years ago, I was lucky enough to achieve this dream.
"One of my favourite things about sport is that it brings people together, it gives people a sense of belonging, and it fills them with great pride and passion.
"Seeing the Aviva Stadium, our national arena for rugby and soccer lighting up the Dublin skyline in rainbow colours is truly amazing.
"I’m hoping that the men, women, boys and girls throughout Ireland will see this Aviva rainbow as a sign that they belong to a bigger community, that they are not alone, that they can be themselves and that they can achieve their dreams, no matter what.”
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