As a result of wearing a rainbow shirt at the USA's World Cup opening against Wales, US soccer journalist Grant Wahl claims he was detained by security personnel.

The Guardian reported that Wahl, who works for CBS Sports and contributes a well-read column to Substack, donned the jersey to the game at Qatar's Ahmad bin Ali Stadium as a sign of support for the LGBTQ+ community. In Qatar, homosexuality is forbidden.

He claimed, though, that a security officer informed him the garment was forbidden. As he tweeted about the incident, Wahl claimed that a guard "forcibly ripped" his phone out of his hands.

He claimed that after being detained for 25 minutes, a security guard ordered him to take off his shirt because it was "political." Additionally, he was asked if he was from the UK.

Wahl claims that when he explained what had happened to a passing New York Times reporter, both of them were taken into custody before being released shortly after.

“Then a security commander approached me,” Wahl wrote in his Substack column. “He said they were letting me through and apologized. We shook hands. One of the security guards told me they were just trying to protect me from fans inside who could harm me for wearing the shirt … A Fifa rep later apologized to me as well.”

“But the entire episode left me wondering: What’s it like for ordinary Qataris who might wear a rainbow shirt when the world isn’t watching here? What’s that like?”

Wahl said he was subsequently allowed to wear the shirt in the stadium.