Iranian Football Federation spokesman Amir-Mahdi Alavi said the obstacles went “beyond sport” and the federation had written to FIFA to intervene. The White House has not commented, and FIFA has not responded publicly.
Iran’s Football Association said it had written to FIFA for help in resolving the problem but received no response.
The administration of US President Donald Trump announced in June a travel ban on citizens from twelve countries, including Iran and Haiti, which has also qualified for the World Cup. It has created an unwanted headache for FIFA president Gianni Infantino if Iran or Haiti were drawn into groups in the US
Exemptions were promised for “any athlete or member of an athletics team, including coaches, persons performing a necessary support role, and immediate family members, traveling for the World Cup, the Olympic Games, or other major sporting event as determined by the Secretary of State.”
The draw was not specifically listed as an exemption.
The drawing was originally scheduled to be held in Las Vegas as an entertainment spectacle, before Trump moved it to Washington DC and the Kennedy Center on Friday (December 5).
It’s a tense backdrop for two countries with complicated World Cup histories. When the US and Iran met at the 1998 World Cup in France, players from both sides walked onto the field with white roses in their hands, a gesture intended to ease political tension and show respect as the match was billed as “The Mother of All Matches.” It became one of the most memorable moments in tournament history when Iran won 2-1.
They met again at Qatar 2022, with the Americans victorious.
The president of the Iranian Federation, Mehdi Taj, is a senior figure in Asian football and a member of several FIFA committees. His expected absence will certainly have repercussions in FIFA’s boardrooms.
And beyond the officials, there’s a bigger elephant in the room: Iranian and Haitian fans. If the current visa rules remain this strict, they will have very little chance to support their teams in the United States?
Infantino has repeatedly said that this World Cup is open to everyone, but that is simply not the case. If supporters from qualifying countries cannot travel due to political barriers, ‘open to all’ will have to come with a question mark over what FIFA’s definition of ‘open’ and ‘all’ has become.
FIFA removed Indonesia from hosting the U23 World Cup due to opposition to hosting the Israeli team. The US is similarly refusing to host members of Iran’s official delegation and there are likely to be more problems. For FIFA, which has repeatedly shown that its word cannot be construed as its alliance since Infantino became president, where does it go from here and does its US operation end up being just a cash grab from the Concacaf region and a PR opportunity for the Trump administration?
The new FIFA peace prize – which everyone expects to be awarded to Donald Trump in the city where he unleashed the country’s army – turns the entire draw and the global governing body into a figure of global ridicule.
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