FA must demand FIFA enforce it rules against anti-gay discrimination
London, UK – 7 September 2026
The Peter Tatchell Foundation has written to England’s Football Association, urging it to press FIFA to act against dozens of countries that have a de facto ban on the selection gay footballers for their national team. At the 2026 FIFA World Cup, 11 participating teams had such a ban.
The FA’s CEO, Mark Bullingham has responded by agreeing to raise this issue with FIFA.
Discrimation based on sexual orientation is against FIFA’s rules but FIFA is not enforcing them. As a member of FIFA, the FA has influence. We are urging the FA to use that influence to ensure that gay footballers whose performance on the pitch merits inclusion in their national team are not arbitarily excluded because of their sexuality.
Copy of the PTF’s letter to the Football Association
Chief Executive Officer
Football Association
7 September 2026
Dear Mark Bullingham
Discrimination against gay players in selection for 2026 World Cup
I am writing on behalf of the human rights organisation, the Peter Tatchell Foundation, in London, to request the Football Association (FA) to make representations to the leaders of FIFA over their failure to uphold FIFA’s own rules against discrimination based on sexual orientation at the 2026 World Cup.
We applaud the FA’s strong human rights commitment, which includes an explicit ban on anti-gay discrimination on and off the pitch.
In 2022, the FA declared: “Human rights are universal and they apply everywhere.” Your Equality and Inclusion policy includes a laudable commitment to “Tackling homophobia and promoting LGBT+ inclusion.”
I am therefore asking the FA, as an affiliate of FIFA, to follow through your commitment to LGBT+ inclusion by pressing the FIFA leadership to take action to ensure that gay and bisexual footballers do not face discrimination in team selection for national and international matches, including future World Cups.
FIFA knowingly allowed the possible exclusion of gay footballers from the 2026 World Cup. It authorised the participation of 11 countries that would never permit the selection of a gay player for their squad, no matter how talented he was: Algeria, Egypt, Ghana, Iran, Iraq, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Tunisia and Uzbekistan.
All these countries criminalise homosexuality. They would more likely jail a star gay footballer, rather than select him for their national team.
This discrimination in team selection is against “FIFA statutes” (article 4.1) and “FIFA Regulations” (article 5.2 b), which prohibit discrimination based on “sexual orientation”.
See the Appendix that follows.
By default, FIFA permitted discrimination and exclusion. It did not require, and did not receive, confirmation from these 11 countries that they would select a gay player whose performance on the pitch merited inclusion in their squad.
FIFA had a duty, under its own rules, to suspend or expel national teams that would veto the selection of gay footballers because their sexuality.
I wrote to the FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, on 15 June 2026, seeking his confirmation that the rules would be upheld and that FIFA would seek assurances from the 11 teams that they would not bar the selection a top-flight footballer, just because he happened to be gay.
This is what I wrote to Mr Infantino:
“I urge you to seek confirmation in writing from the 11 national teams that they will not bar the selection of gay players. Will you please do this?
“If they fail to give this confirmation, I request that you bar their participation in the 2026 World Cup, in accordance with FIFA Statute 4.1, which stipulates “suspension or expulsion” from the World Cup for countries that discriminate. Can you please assure me that you will invoke these sanctions against non-compliant teams?”
Mr Infantino did not reply. An anonymous response was received from FIFA’s human rights team but it did not address the issues I raised.
I would be very grateful if the FA would ally with other national football associations, to raise these issues with FIFA, in accordance with your own commitment to uphold human rights and your duty as a FIFA affiliate to ensure that its rules are enforced.
In particular, I request that the FA urge FIFA to advise all 211 affiliated football associations of the rules banning sexual orientation discrimination and seek their assurance in writing that they will not bar the selection of gay or bisexual footballers whose performance on the pitch justifies their inclusion.
In addition, we were pleased that stadium screens at the World Cup 2026 featured the message “Zero tolerance of racism.” But there were no messages expressing “Zero tolerance of homophobia.” Why the double standards?
Both racism and homophobia should be subject to zero tolerance. Indeed, homophobic discrimination is now even more widespread than racism. How many countries ban players because of their race? None, as far as I know. Race discrimination, if it happened, would result in expulsion from FIFA. But all the 60+ countries that criminalise same-sex relations would ban a gay player and FIFA has not penalised any of them.
In 1961, FIFA excluded South Africa from the World Cup because it banned black footballers. In the 2026 World Cup, none of the 11 countries that would ban gay footballers was excluded. Why is homophobic discrimination consistently downplayed and given a free pass by FIFA?
So, I further request that the FA also raise these double standards on racism and homophobia with FIFA and seek an end to them. In particular, secure an assurance from FIFA that future fixtures will include stadium screen messages expressing zero tolerance of both racism and homophobia.
I hope the FA will be able to raise its voice and give a lead on these issues. Please advise me what you plan to do.
Yours sincerely,
Peter Tatchell – CEO, Peter Tatchell Foundation – London, UK
APPENDIX
FIFA Statutes
Article 3. Human rights
FIFA is committed to respecting all internationally recognised human rights and shall strive to promote the protection of these rights.
Article 4. Non-discrimination, equality and neutrality
1. Discrimination of any kind against a country, private person or group of people on account of race, skin colour, ethnic, national or social origin, gender, disability, language, religion, political opinion or any other opinion, wealth, birth or any other status, sexual orientation or any other reason is strictly prohibited and punishable by suspension or expulsion.
https://cdn.fifa.sportsagentinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/25163055/FIFA_Statutes_2024-EN.pdf
Regulations for the FIFA World Cup 26
ARTICLE 5: PARTICIPATING MEMBER ASSOCIATIONS – RESPONSIBILITIES
5.2 On entering the FIFA World Cup 26, the Participating Member Associations automatically undertake to: b) observe and comply with the FIFA Statutes (including 4.1) https://digitalhub.fifa.com/m/636f5c9c6f29771f/original/FWC2026_regulations_EN.pdf