Iran will boycott the draw for next year’s World Cup in protest at the United States’ limited allocation of visas for members of the Iranian delegation, the country’s football federation has announced.
The United States has long-standing strict visa restrictions on Iranians for political and security reasons. It was presumed within Iran, however, that the policy would not extend to next Friday’s event in Washington.
“The Iranian delegation will not be present for the World Cup draw in relation to the latest status of issuing visas for the Iranian delegation to attend the draw ceremony,” the federation spokesperson Amir Mehdi Alavi was quoted as saying by Iranian sports news website Tarafdari on Friday.
Alavi was quoted as saying that the US had granted Iran only four visas for the draw, including the head coach, Amir Ghalenoei, but had not granted a visa to the federation president, Mehdi Taj. “Given that the decisions taken are unsportsmanlike and the path has deviated from the sporting process, it was decided that the Iranian delegation will not attend the draw ceremony,” added Alavi.
The federation has been in contact with Fifa and informed its president, Gianni Infantino, of the decision. “Fifa has said it will follow up on the matter seriously,” Alavi is quoted as saying by Tarafdari.
Iran secured qualification for the World Cup in March with a 2-2 draw against Uzbekistan in Tehran, sealing a seventh appearance at the tournament and a fourth in a row.