The competition hasn’t started yet, but it’s already getting a lot of attention. A few days ago, the Donald Trump administration announced that it would ban Haitian fans from coming to support their team during the World Cup. Terrible news, against a backdrop of political conflict, as the country will compete in the second World Cup after 1974.
This time, it’s the turn of a nation to boycott the competition. More precisely the draw for this one, scheduled for Friday December 5 in Washington DC. In question, a problem linked to obtaining visas for several members of the delegation to enter the United States.
This is Iran. The spokesperson for the Iranian football federation announced on state television that it had “ informed FIFA that the decisions taken are unrelated to sport and that members of the Iranian delegation will not participate in the World Cup draw. »
A “political” conflict
The media Tehran Times reports certain details, in particular concerning the members of the delegation whose visa applications were refused. These are coach Amir Ghalenoei, executive director Mehdi Kharati, director of international relations Omid Jamali, as well as the previously mentioned spokesperson Amir Mehdi Alavi.
A new conflict which further aggravates already tense relations between the United States and Iran, while the president of the Iranian football federation Mehdi Taj denounced last night a decision “purely political” from the Trump administration. As a reminder, a decree signed last June prohibits nationals of 19 countries, including Iran and Haiti, from entering American soil.
