Gareth Southgate suggests England will ignore plea to avoid human-rights discussions

England manager Gareth Southgate has reiterated that his squad stand for inclusivity and says his players will speak out on non-football issues at the World Cup if they need to.

The Three Lions boss named his 26-man squad for Qatar on Thursday and was asked how England will respond to off-field issues.

“We stand for inclusivity, we’re very, very strong on that, we think that’s important in terms of all our supporters and we understand the challenges that this tournament brings,” Southgate said.

He added it’s “unlikely” his players will stick to “just football” as Fifa has asked.

Sign up for our newsletters.