Iran are to boycott next week’s World Cup draw in Washington after the president of the country’s football federation was denied a visa to enter the United States.
A spokesperson for the Iranian football federation (FFIRI) described the decision to reject the visa application as “unrelated to sport” and the move raises the prospect of Iran withdrawing from the tournament altogether.
Iran is one of 19 nations whose citizens are restricted from entering the US since a directive issued by Donald Trump in June. An exemption to the ban was granted to athletes, coaches or “persons performing a necessary support role” who were travelling for the World Cup or “other major sporting event”, but appears not to have been applied in this instance.
“We have informed Fifa that the decisions taken are unrelated to sport and that the members of the Iranian delegation will not participate in the World Cup draw,” the federation spokesperson Amir Mehdi Alavi was quoted as saying by the English language newspaper the Tehran Times.
According to the newspaper, the president of the FFIRI, Mehdi Taj, was one of three individuals denied a visa by the US state department, while four people – including the head coach, Amir Ghalenoei – were granted one. Reports in October suggested both Taj and Ghalenoei had seen their visa applications rejected, with the Tehran Times reporting that the FFIRI had taken up the issue personally with Fifa’s president, Gianni Infantino.
Infantino has previously pledged that “everyone will be welcome” at the World Cup, which begins in Mexico City on 11 June. Speaking on the sidelines of an assembly of the European Football Clubs organisation on 9 October, he had sought to calm concerns that visas could be denied to athletes or officials.
“We have excellent discussions with the US government. There is a White House task force chaired by President Trump, and all these topics are discussed there,” Infantino said. “With all the relevant secretaries of state, there will be no issues with regard to visas, obviously for the participating teams and delegations, and we are working on something as well for fans. Hopefully, some good news will come out very soon.”
Fifa has since confirmed the creation of the Fifa Pass, a scheme that will allow World Cup ticket holders priority access to the visa application process before the tournament. Applications are not guaranteed to be successful, however. According to reporting in Politico, fans of Haiti – who qualified for their second World Cup last week but whose nation is also on Trump’s restricted travel list – are able to submit visa applications but “may be ineligible for visa issuance or admission to the United States”.
Fifa, the FFIRI and the US Department of State have been approached for comment.
