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Alex Scott wore the OneLove armband on BBC's coverage of England vs Iran (Image: BBC)
Alex Scott wore the OneLove armband live on BBC's coverage of England's opening match of the World Cup on Monday. The former Arsenal full-back made her stance clear after it was announced on the morning of the match that the Three Lions will no longer wear the armband at the tournament in Qatar.
Alex Scott made her stance clear by wearing the OneLove armband live on the BBC (Image: BBC)
Captains of seven nations were planning to make the gesture on the world stage. The OneLove armband is designed to promote diversity and inclusion, two areas Qatar have been heavily criticised for.
England captain Harry Kane said as recently as Sunday that he was still set to wear the armband. However, warnings of potential sporting punishments from FIFA have seen a major U-turn.
Players were potentially set to be given a yellow card if they entered the field of play wearing the armband. There were also reports that individuals could also be banned from playing.
Fans queue to get into Khalifa International Stadium for England v Iran
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England vs Iran referee - Who is Raphael Claus?
England face Iran in the first of their Group B matches today, and the match will be officiated by Brazilian referee Raphael Claus.
This is the first appointment at a senior World Cup for Claus, and he is one of two Brazilian referees in Qatar.
This season, Claus has overseen 24 games across Brazil's top league - Serie A - and has dished out a total of 10 red cards.
The other match officials for England vs Iran are:
A joint statement from the seven nations confirmed they were willing to accept financial sanctions but not ones which affected their players. Many still feel England should wear the armbands, even if Kane receives a yellow card.
Scott was pitchside ahead of the match against Iran. And emblazoned on her left arm was the band which Kane was previously set to wear.
BBC reporter Kelly Somers commented: "As you can see, Alex Scott is wearing the OneLove armband. As Gareth Southgate confirmed to me, the England players will not be wearing that. Instead they will be wearing the FIFA armband instead."
England boss Gareth Southgate says he has been fully focused on the match and let the relevant authorities discuss the right action. Southgate said: "A lot of discussions have been going on without me involved because I’ve been focusing on the game.
"We are wearing the FIFA armband which has been agreed by collective federations which was agreed overnight I believe. We are in the middle of that, we’re trying to focus on the game frankly."
FIFA do not permit the wearing of the OneLove armbands. And a statement from the seven nations involved confirmed they had U-turned on their original decision.
Part of the statement read: "As national federations, we can’t put our players in a position where they could face sporting sanctions including bookings, so we have asked the captains not to attempt to wear the armbands in FIFA World Cup games.
"We were prepared to pay fines that would normally apply to breaches of kit regulations and had a strong commitment to wearing the armband. However, we cannot put our players in the situation where they might be booked or even forced to leave the field of play."
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