FIFA lifts Iran ban
Iran will be allowed to defend their Asian Games title after world governing body FIFA provisionally lifted a ban on their participation in international competition.
The country’s football federation was suspended earlier this month by the Zurich-based body due to political interference in the running of the sport in the Islamic republic following Iran’s elimination from the World Cup finals in Germany.
But after a round of negotiations involving FIFA, Iranian officials and Asian Football Confederation president Mohammed bin Hammam, the back-to-back Asian Games gold medallists will be allowed to compete in Doha next week.
“The emergency committee of FIFA suspended the Iranian Football Federation for political interference, but we have agreed with Iran that there is a route to be respected with different points to install in the meantime a provisional committee,” said FIFA President Sepp Blatter.
“We are giving that until December 12 to be installed.
“Together with the president of the AFC we have agreed that they can participate in the Asian Games football tournament and when (and) if they fully agree with our conditions on this road map to resolve the normalisation of the situation, we will lift, provisionally, the ban.”
The move means Asian Games organisers will be forced to redraw the second round of the competition after the about-turn.
Iran, who successfully defended the Asian Games gold medal at the last event in Busan in 2002, had been replaced by Iraq as the seeded team in Pool D when the draw was made on Sunday while Tajikistan had been drafted into the competition to fill the void left by the Iranians.
Tajikistan are now excluded from the competition while Iraq will return to their original position in Pool E for the redraw.
However, while the ruling allows the Iranians to compete at the Asian Games, a failure to have installed a normalisation committee by FIFA’s next executive committee meeting – due to be held on December 5 – could see Iran excluded from the draw for next summer’s Asian Cup.
“We want to have a normalisation committee installed not on December 12 but on December 5, in order that we have the full compliance with the FIFA requirements in relation to the statutes,” said Blatter.
“If the objectives are not implemented until December 6 then the ban will affect the draw for the Asian Cup.”
Iran qualified for the finals of the Asian Cup, which are due to be held in South East Asia in July 2007, along with South Korea at the expense of Syria and Chinese Taipei.
