Most likely, Iran will play in the World Cup but we can’t stop the game of pressure and politics that is always playing in the background in the run up to the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
According to AP, Ukraine’s top soccer club, Shakhtar Donetsk, on Monday urged FIFA to remove Iran from the World Cup because of the country’s alleged military support to the Russian invasion.
We continue to believe that politics and wars should not be used as reasons to boycott any clubs or country in sports. The banning of Russia is already a heavy toll to innocent sportsmen and women.
The AP report says Shakhtar Donetsk chief executive Sergei Palkin has accused the country of “direct participation in terrorist attacks on Ukrainians.”
The role of Iran apparently came to light after Iranian made drones were allegedly used by Russian forces to attack Ukrainian cities and forces in the 9 months long war.
The Shakhtar boss is suggesting that his own country’s team should play in Qatar instead of Iran as a replacement.
He also says this will be a fair decision.
“This will be a fair decision that should draw the attention of the whole world to a regime that kills its best people and helps kill Ukrainians,” Palkin said in a statement one day before his team plays at Celtic in the Champions League.
However, removing Iran which has qualified for the World Cup could cause more troubles for Fifa.
In the political game, Iran could have more influence with the organisers for example and if Fifa were to start such a political move, who knows what Qatar could do?
Fifa has already set a precedent in bending to political meddling in sports when it barred Russia from the World Cup qualifiers.
In February, Fifa suspended Russia and its teams from all competitions, thus ejecting the country from qualifying for the 2022 World Cup.
Russia was only weeks away from playing for one of Europe’s final places in this year’s tournament in Qatar.
But this decision was before the World Cup entered its last month of waiting for the competition to start.
Yet, the middle eastern country is facing another call to be dismissed from the World Cup because of the treatment of women in sports.
A formal request has been made to FIFA to kick Iran out of the 2022 World Cup due to a violation of international women’s football guidelines.
Women have been repeatedly denied entry to football stadiums in Iran in recent months, which, while there is no formal ban on women attending football matches, is considered a violation of FIFA regulations under Article 19.
A group of Iranian football and sports figures, including FIFA referee Mohammad Reza Faghani, judo champion Vahid Sarlak, and futsal international Shiva Amini, have all signed a letter to FIFA requesting that Iran be removed from the tournament.
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