Harry Kane hopeful World Cup teams can be ‘unified’ in approach to Qatar issues

England skipper Harry Kane will aim to hold talks with other national team captains so they can be “unified” in their approach to highlighting the issues surrounding the Qatar World Cup.

Male homosexuality is punishable by a prison sentence, same-sex marriages are not recognised by the government and women’s rights are much tighter than in some other parts of the world.

Accusations concerning the treatment of migrant workers and a poor record of human rights have plagued the Gulf state since it was controversially awarded the finals in 2010.

Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate admits it is a “great shame” that sections of England supporters will not travel to Qatar for the World Cup this winter and stressed that no one is “complacent” about the issues involved.

Southgate led a meeting with the squad on Tuesday night to discuss the issues, with Kane revealing the conversation ran for over half an hour.

“It’s important to understand that first and foremost, as players we didn’t chose where this World Cup was going to be,” Kane said.

“It’s shone a light on important issues that might not have come to light if this World Cup wasn’t there. We have to try to help as much as possible to understand the issues and situations.

“We’re no experts in that field at the moment, in terms of what we know. As always we’ll try to help in any way we can, use our platform to help in any way we can.

“Obviously there’s a couple of other national captains at Tottenham, maybe also talking to other national team captains to see if we can be unified in how we approach it.

“That’s something that myself and other senior players in the team will try to achieve in the coming months.”

Kane also echoed the sentiments of Southgate when asked about the