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Fifa suspends Iran for ‘government meddling’
Iran’s passionate love affair with football is under strain after it was suspended from international competition because of alleged government meddling.The ban – ordered by football’s world governing body, Fifa – jeopardises Iran’s chances of participating in next year’s Asian Cup finals, for which it qualified last week by beating South Korea.
It was imposed after the country’s sports body ignored a Fifa deadline to reinstate Mohammed Dadkan as president of the Iranian Football Federation. Mr Dadkan was sacked last June amid fierce criticism of the national team’s performance in the World Cup finals in Germany. Iran, currently 38th in Fifa’s world rankings, lost to Mexico and Portugal before drawing with Angola.
The ousting of Mr Dadkan was orchestrated by the government-run physical education organisation. When he resisted, his removal was finally secured after intervention from influential figures in Iran’s Islamic regime – including President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s brother, Davoud, who heads a powerful inspectorate.
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Mr Dadkan claimed he had been subjected to personal abuse after Iran’s elimination, including being labelled a “Zionist collaborator” and an “alien”. In a letter from the physical education organisation, he was told: “We don’t allow federations to become independent islands.” A meeting in Zurich of Fifa’s emergency committee – headed by the federation’s president, Sepp Blatter – ruled this week that Mr Dadkan’s sacking broke rules on the independence of national football associations from political interference.
“The committee took this decision after determining that the Iriff [the Islamic Republic of Iran Football Federaton] was not adhering to the principles of the Fifa statutes regarding the independence of member associations, the independence of the decision-making process of the football governing body in each country and the way in which changes in the leadership of associations are brought about,” a statement said.
The suspension would be lifted if the country adhered to a Fifa “road map” on reforming how football is run in Iran. Iranian officials have greeted the move defiantly. It was branded by one unnamed source, speaking to the semi-official Mehr news agency, as “completely illegitimate”.
State involvement in football issues is conducted openly in Iran, where national team victories are often greeted by euphoric street parties. Mr Ahmadinejad, an avowed fan, trained with the national squad as it prepared for the 2006 World Cup.
During the tournament, government officials – including the foreign ministry spokesman – were dispatched to Germany to mediate in a row between rival groups of players.
In recent weeks, Mr Ahmadinejad has ordered state-run banks to extend credit to two indebted clubs, Persepolis and Esteghlal. Fifa is reported to be unhappy over other instances of Iranian state interference, including the postponement of a recent league match on the order of MPs because it coincided with Ramadan. There was also disquiet after the Abadan club, owned by the powerful oil industry, was promoted after a judicial tribunal ruling.
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FIFA suspends Iran from all international soccer
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The move comes just five months after Iran took part in the World Cup finals in Germany and a week after they secured a place in the 2008 Asian Cup finals, winning their qualifying group by beating South Korea 2-0 in Tehran.
An Iranian news agency said Iran did not accept the decision and described it as “completely illegitimate”. Fans in the soccer-mad country were stunned.
“I am totally shocked because I love football and I always follow the Iranian national soccer squad with 100 percent enthusiasm,” said Hassan Alizad, a 43-year-old driver, who had reveled in Iran’s success at reaching the Asian Cup finals.
“It will break a streak of honors,” he said.
Mohsen Jamali, a 45-year-old barber and football fanatic, said: “I feel injured at hearing this news…I still hope that somehow the decision will be reversed.”
FIFA’s Emergency Committee, composed of FIFA President Sepp Blatter and one representative of each of the six FIFA confederations took the decision at a meeting on Wednesday.
In a statement FIFA said they had decided to “suspend the Islamic Republic of Iran Football Federation (IRIFF) from all international activity due to government interference in football matters and violation of Article 17 of the FIFA Statutes.”
Article 17 relates to the independence of FAs free of any government interference.
NEW ELECTIONS
The FIFA statement continued: “The FIFA Emergency Committee took this decision after determining that the IRIFF was not adhering to the principles of the FIFA Statutes regarding the independence of member associations, the independence of the decision-making process of the football governing body in each country and the way in which changes in the leadership of associations are brought about.”
FIFA is demanding the establishment of an IRIFF Normalization Committee appointed by FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It also wants the IRIFF to draft new statutes and organize new elections.
“Iran will definitely not accept the decision. FIFA wants to put pressure on Iranian football,” Iran’s Mehr News Agency quoted an informed source as saying, describing the move as “completely illegitimate”.
In August 2006, FIFA and the AFC gave the Iranian federation a deadline of November15 to reinstate elected president Mohammad Dadkan and to comply with the relevant provisions of the FIFA Statutes.
As this deadline was not met, Iran has been suspended.
A former Iranian federation employee, who left with Dadkan, said: “When they appoint a person who knows nothing about sports as the head of physical education (Dadkan’s boss) this is the result.”
“This shows (Iran’s) mismanagement,” the former employee, who asked not to be named, told Reuters.
Iran are the second country to face such action in the space of a month. Kenya were suspended on October 24 for failing to respect signed agreements and for recurrent problems in its soccer federation.
“When (President Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad won the elections, they started to change all the managers including football managers. This is the result of having inexperienced people,” said football fan Reza, who asked not to be identified further.
The president dismisses such charges.
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