Ukrainian team calls for removing Iran from World Cup after drone claims

Chenar Chalak

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A football team from Ukraine’s war-torn Donetsk region on Monday called on the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) to remove the Iranian national team from the 2022 World Cup tournament in light of recent reports accusing Tehran of sending drones to Russia to use in its war against Ukraine.

Ukraine has accused Russia of using Iranian drones in its recent devastating attacks on major Ukrainian cities. Moscow has said it has no information on Iranian-made drones being used in the war.

A statement from CEO of FC Shakhtar Donetsk Sergei Palkin titled "Ukraine should be at the World Cup. Iran deserves no place there!" on Monday called on FIFA to ban the Iranian national team from playing in the 2022 World Cup taking place in Qatar in less than a month, and urged the international community to exert pressure on the football federation.

“While the Iranian leadership will have fun watching their national team play at the #WorldCup, Ukrainians will be killed by Iranian drones and Iranian missiles. Almost 250 such drones have already attacked peaceful cities of #Ukraine,” read the statement from Palkin.

Palkin added that banning Iran from the tournament would be “a fair decision,” suggesting that Ukraine should fill the vacant seat if the Iranian team were to be eliminated.

Ukraine reached the European play-off final for the 2022 World Cup, but failed to qualify for the prestigious tournament after conceding a narrow 1-0 defeat to Wales in June, as the war at home continued.

Speaking during a weekly presser, Nasser Kanaani, spokesperson for the Iranian foreign ministry, once again rejected the claims that Iranian drones are being sent to Russia, saying that Iran was “not a party to the war.”

A group of Iranian football personalities earlier this week filed a formal request to FIFA demanding the football body to ban the national from competing in the upcoming World Cup, citing the Iranian Football Federation’s stance towards women as reasoning.

"Women have been consistently denied access to stadia across the country and systematically excluded from the football ecosystem in Iran, which sharply contrasts with FIFA's values and statutes," read a statement from the group, adding that “FIFA must choose a side.”

 

Iran has also been under fire for its violent crackdown on the protests that have engulfed the country since the death of Mahsa (Zhina) Amini while in police custody in mid-September.

For supporting the demonstrations in the country, Saipa player Hossein Mahini was arrested and imprisoned, Esteghlal player Aref Gholami was banned from training, and football legend Ali Daei had his passport confiscated by Iranian authorities.

Mahdi Mohammadnabi, the vice president of the Iranian Football Federation, commented on the efforts made to pressure FIFA into removing Iran from the Qatar World Cup, saying that FIFA was not allowed to interfere in these issues.

“The efforts of these people are unreasonable and not approved by the sport,” the semi-official Fars News cited Mohammadnabi as saying on Friday, adding that the Iranian Football Federation does not concern itself with these attempts.

Football teams from Russia, both on international and club levels, have been suspended from participating in all FIFA and the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) competitions since the start of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in February.