Due to Iran’s alleged military backing for the Russian invasion, Shakhtar Donetsk, the leading football club in Ukraine, requested on Monday that FIFA exclude Iran from the World Cup.
Sergei Palkin, the club’s chief executive, accused Iran of “direct involvement in terrorist attacks against Ukrainians” and proposed that his own nation’s squad play in Qatar as a stand-in.
One day before his team’s Champions League match against Celtic, Palkin said in a statement, “This will be a fair decision that should raise the attention of the entire world to a regime that kills its best people and helps kill Ukrainians.”
The U.S. has proof that Iranian forces are “actively engaged on the ground” in Crimea, aiding Russian drone assaults against the country’s infrastructure and civilian population, according to the White House on Thursday.
Argentina’s “first fan” of the 2022 FIFA World Cup arrived in Qatar six months early.
Additionally, Kyrylo Budanov, the chief of Ukraine’s intelligence service, claimed in an interview that was released on Monday that as of Saturday, Russian forces had utilized roughly 330 “Shahed” drones made in Iran and that more had been ordered.
Both Russia and Iran have refuted the claim that Iran produced the drones used.
Iran takes meet England in the tournament’s second game on November 21 before facing Wales and the United States in Group B. Wales qualified after defeating Ukraine in the semifinal match that was postponed from March due to the conflict in June.
A request for comment from FIFA did not immediately receive a response. To replace an Asian squad at the World Cup with a European one, however, would be unprecedented if an Asian team were suspended.
Although Yugoslavia was prevented from trying to qualify for the 1994 World Cup after sanctions were imposed by the United Nations during the war in the Balkans, the world governing body of football does not typically suspend member federations because of military decisions made by a national government.
Following its invasion of Ukraine, FIFA has suspended Russian teams, preventing them from competing in the March World Cup qualifying playoffs. Poland, Russia’s planned opponent, citing concerns to the security and integrity of its competitions as the reason they would not participate in that match.
FIFA is also refusing pleas this month from Iranian fan groups to suspend the national team due to a long-standing policy that prohibits women from openly attending football and other sporting events, as well as a countrywide crackdown on public protests in support of women’s rights.
FIFA typically only suspends national teams when it finds that the government of the nation has meddled with the autonomous operation of the national football association.
United Arab Emirates was the next-best qualifier, and five teams from the Asian confederation made it to the World Cup to join the host nation Qatar. Prior to the continental playoffs, the UAE was defeated by Australia in a regional match in June.
