The United States Soccer Board of Directors are taking a strong stance on players standing for the National Anthem.

NBC News reported the board passed a statement confirming that all players participating in international duty for the USA are required to stand during the anthem.

The statement reads: "All persons representing a Federation national team shall stand respectfully during the playing of national anthems at any event in which the federation is represented."

While the formal statement surfaced over the weekend, the rule was apparently adopted last month.

Though the full details of the new rule remain unclear, the NBC report stated that U.S. Soccer Federation President Sunil Gulati implied that there would be repercussions for protesters.

Most of the controversy surrounding the anthem protests has died down, but U.S. Soccer had it's own issues with a player kneeling while the song was played last year.



Women's national team player Megan Rapinoe followed in the footsteps of San Francisco 49er's quarterback Colin Kaepernick by refusing to stand for the anthem during two games in 2016. She claimed it was to protest injustices against the LGBTQ community.

Kaepernick recently announced he would be ending his anthem protest at the start of the 2017 season.