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Fifa urged to ban Iran from World Cup over Ukraine invasion arms supply
The chief executive of Shakhtar Donetsk has called for Fifa to ban Iran from the upcoming World Cup, with the Ukrainian national team to be handed the qualification spot instead.
According to US intelligence, Iranian troops are ‘directly engaged on the ground’ in Crimea, working in unison with Russian drone attacks on Ukraine’s civilians and infrastructure.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky also recently claimed that Iranian drones were utilised in Russian missile strikes on his country. While this has also been confirmed by US intelligence, both Russia and Iran have denied the use of such drones.
Russia was banned from international competition by Uefa earlier this year, curtailing the national team’s hopes of qualifying for Qatar 2022. Now, Shakhtar have put out a statement calling for Iran to also be expelled from the World Cup for providing military assistance to Russia.
The Iranian national team are set to play their first match of the tournament against England on 21st November, with further group games against US and Wales.
A statement from Sergei Palkin, the club’s chief executive states: ‘Shakhtar Football Club calls on Fifa and the entire international community to immediately ban Iran’s national team from playing at the World Cup for the country’s direct participation in terrorist attacks on Ukrainians.
‘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’s statement then puts forward Ukraine as a replacement, calling the national team ‘worthy of participation’ and arguing they ‘played with their heart’ in ‘unequal conditions’. Ukraine lost out to Wales for the final European qualification spot at the World Cup.
The statement continues: ‘The decision is historically and sportingly justified. I urge everyone to join the pressure on the football bureaucracy. It is enough to repeat the mistakes of the 2018 World Cup in Russia, hiding behind the empty thesis about the apolitically of sports.
‘Facilitating the participation of terrorists in the World Cup is politics. It’s time to put an end to such a policy.’
Fifa are yet to publicly comment on the statement. However, there is no historical precedent for soccer’s global governing body to replace an Asian country with a European nation.
Shakhtar’s statement comes amid other calls from Iranian fan groups for Fifa to suspend the national team and expel them from the World Cup. Rights group Open Stadiums has sent a letter to Fifa president Gianni Infantino calling for Iran’s removal due to the country’s treatment of women.
Women have not freely been able to attend sporting events in Iran, while there is a current crackdown on protests in support of women’s rights.
The letter reads: ‘The Iranian FA is not only an accomplice of the crimes of the regime. It is a direct threat to the security of female fans in Iran and wherever our national team plays in the world. Football should be a safe space for us all.
‘Why would Fifa give the Iranian state and its representatives a global stage while [the country’s government] not only refuses to respect basic human rights and dignities, but is currently torturing and killing its own people?
‘Therefore, we ask Fifa, based on articles three and four of its statutes, to immediately expel Iran from the World Cup 2022 in Qatar.’
https://www.sportspromedia.com/news/fifa-world-cup-qatar-2022-iran-ban-ukraine-russia-invasion/
My answer is a NO. No nation should lose being part of a sporting event they rightfully qualified for because of their political views/ actions.
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