World soccer’s governing body FIFA on Friday announced its decision to suspend the Iraqi Football Association (IFA) until further notice “because of government interference.”
“In accordance with FIFA statutes, the clubs and representative teams of Iraq are no longer permitted to take part in international matches, whether friendly or competitive,” read a statement on the FIFA Web site. “Furthermore, the IFA is deprived of its right to vote at any congresses held by international bodies and is no longer entitled to receive financial assistance.”
Despite FIFA’s decision, Iraq’s women’s under-16 team will be allowed to compete in a youth tournament organized by the Norwegian soccer federation that is scheduled to take place in Jordan from today until next Sunday.
On Tuesday, FIFA gave the authorities in Baghdad a 72-hour ultimatum to reinstate the IFA or risk suspension from international soccer.
Police on Wednesday seized control of the IFA’s offices after its governing board was dissolved on charges of links to executed dictator Saddam Hussein.
FIFA said that the current members of the IFA’s Executive Committee were “the sole recognized interlocutors for FIFA” and called for them to be “rapidly reinstated.”
“The measures taken by the Iraqi Olympic Committee [IOC] and the security forces are unacceptable to FIFA as they stand in total contradiction of IFA and FIFA statutes,” the statement said.
The Iraqi government described the decision as unjust.
“It’s an unfair decision [that] was taken without hearing the Iraqi Olympic Committee,” government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said.
“We feel that the IFA was behind the decision of FIFA to suspend the Iraqi federation,” said Dabbagh, who is also responsible for organizing IFA elections. “We are going to work with the Iraqi Olympic Committee to apply the national laws in respect of the FIFA regulations. FIFA has to respect the positions of the football clubs of Iraq who don’t want to accept the executive board of the IFA, [which] is involved in corruption and violation of Iraqi laws.”
IFA chief Hussein Saeed, however, said the “FIFA decision was expected after the IOC’s decision to dissolve the IFA, which is an illegal approach.”
Soccer is highly popular in Iraq and its importance was boosted by the national side’s victory in the 2007 Asian Nations Cup.
FIFA has expressed growing concern about possible political interference in the sport in Iraq. In September, it gave the IFA until April 30 to elect a new board.
Iraq was briefly suspended from international football in May last year after the government dissolved the national Olympic Committee. It was reinstated only after the government said the IFA had not been affected.
Taiwanese world No. 1 women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei on Saturday overcame a first-set loss to win her opening match at the Madrid Open. Top seeds Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium, with whom she last month won her fourth Indian Wells women’s doubles title, bounced back from a rocky first set to beat Asia Muhammad of the US and Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia 2-6, 6-4, 10-2. Hsieh and Mertens were next to face Heather Watson of the UK and Xu Yifan of China in the round of 16. Thirty-eight-year-old Hsieh last month reclaimed her world No. 1 spot after her Indian
EYES ON THE PRIZE: Armed with three solid men’s singles shuttlers and doubles Olympic champions, Taiwan aim to make their first Thomas Cup semi-final, Chou Tien-chen said Taiwanese badminton star Tai Tzu-ying yesterday quickly dispatched Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei in straight sets, while her male counterpart Chou Tien-chen beat Germany’s Kai Schaefer, as Taiwan’s women’s and men’s teams won their Group B opening rounds of the TotalEnergies BWF Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in Chengdu, China. World No. 5 Tai beat Goh 21-19, 22-20 in a speedy 33 minutes, her fourth straight victory over the world No. 24 shuttler since they first faced each other in the quarter-finals of the 2018 Malaysia Open, where Tai went on to win the women’s singles title. Malaysia followed up Tai’s opening victory
A goalkeeper with one of Iran’s top soccer clubs has been suspended after he embraced a female supporter during a championship match, sports daily Khabar Varzeshi reported on Monday. Hossein Hosseini, 31, who plays for Tehran team Esteghlal, was suspended after the incident on April 12. The Esteghlal fan rushed onto the pitch where stadium security attempted to detain her. Hosseini approached the woman while security staff were trying to hold her back and briefly took her into his arms. The newspaper said that the Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran fined the goalkeeper the equivalent of US$4,700 and gave him a one-match
A wine merchant who blind tasted a different glass of wine at each mile of the London Marathon on Sunday has said he feels “honored” his challenge went viral on social media, as he surpassed his fundraising target. Tom Gilbey, nicknamed “the wine guy,” sampled 25 glasses of wine during the race, stopping to guess the drink’s grape variety, country of origin and vintage at each mile. A video he posted on TikTok has amassed more than 3.2 million views. He had his first sip at about 9:30am, shortly after the race began. Gilbey said he aimed to raise £2,000 (US$2,487) for Sobell