The Wembley arch was lit up in rainbow colours ahead of England's World Cup match against the United States to show solidarity with the LGBT community.

Several squads at the World Cup, including England and Wales, had hoped to wear One Love armbands before they were threatened with sporting sanctions.

LGBT rights are severely limited in Qatar, and same-sex attracted people can be subjected to upwards of seven years in prison.

FA chief executive Mark Bullingham said the disciplinary action the team could have faced from FIFA for wearing the armband was “unlimited”.

Bullingham told ITV Sport: “It’s very important to understand what happened here. We have been clear that we wanted to wear it and we were committed. We announced that we would do that in September, we had a lot of meetings with FIFA over that period and on Saturday before the game we felt we’d reached an understanding where we would wear it. We hadn’t got permission but we would face a fine for it.

READ MORE: Fans outraged as England don't wear One Love armbands

“Unfortunately then on the day of the game they gave us 10 minutes’ notice – two hours before we were due to go to the game…they came here with five officials and they ran us through a scenario where at a minimum anyone wearing the armband would be booked and face disciplinary action on top of that.

“It was unlimited. They would take disciplinary action against any player that was wearing the armband on top of having a yellow card.”

Bullingham said the FA took that to mean players could face bans from further games if the bands were worn, not just a yellow card.