Iran’s participation in this year’s men’s FIFA World Cup is in doubt after the country’s sports minister said the nation “under no circumstances” could compete in the tournament co-hosted by the United States.
Ahmad Donyamali, Iran’s sports minister, made the declaration on Wednesday that his country could not compete after the US launched air strikes alongside Israel.
The attacks killed the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and triggered a region-wide conflict.
Iran is one of 48 teams to qualify for the tournament, which will be hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico in June and July this year.
“Considering that this corrupt regime has assassinated our leader, under no circumstances can we participate in the World Cup,” the minister told state television.
“Our children are not safe and, fundamentally, such conditions for participation do not exist,” Donyamali said.
“Given the malicious actions they have carried out against Iran, they have forced two wars on us over eight or nine months and have killed and martyred thousands of our people. Therefore, we certainly cannot have such a presence.”
More than 1,300 Iranian civilians have been killed since the US and Israeli air strikes began on February 28, according to Iran’s UN ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani.
Iran, who dominated the Asian qualifying rounds to qualify for the tournament in March last year, was the only nation missing from a FIFA planning summit for World Cup participants held last week in Atlanta.
There was no immediate comment from the Iranian Football Federation or world soccer’s governing body, FIFA. Kenya’s
FIFA regulations state that any team that withdraws from the tournament “no later than 30 days before the first match” will be fined at least 250,000 Swiss francs ($448,800).
“Disciplinary sanctions may include the expulsion of the participating member association concerned from subsequent FIFA competitions and/or the replacement of the participating member association with another member association,” FIFA’s regulations say.
“The FIFA Council or the relevant committee may decide, in particular, to replace the member association in question with another association.”
Iran’s call to exit the tournament before a ball has been kicked will pose a significant problem for FIFA, as no qualified nation has ever boycotted the World Cup for political reasons.
Following confirmation of Iran’s decision, Mirror Football takes a look at the past instances of countries withdrawing from the World Cup due to political circumstances.
Uruguay – 1934
Reigning World Champions headed to the second edition of the tournament in 1934 following their success four years prior. However, they pulled out in protest at several European teams not travelling to South America for the 1930 World Cup in Uruguay.
The 1934 World Cup remains the only one where the defending champions didn’t participate.
Austria – 1938
One of the tournament favourites for the 1938 tournament, Austria, couldn’t participate due to the Nazi forces annexing the country at the time. Some Austrian stars joined the German squad, though star player Matthias Sindelar declined to represent the Nazi-led nation.
India – 1950
In the one time that India managed to qualify for the World Cup, they opted not to attend. In 1950, the Asian country advanced to the finals by default due to withdrawals from qualifiying.
Their absences was down to travel expenses, training time and team selection issues.
African teams – 1966
The 1966 tournament is fondly remembered in England, but one aspect that often goes unnoticed is the absence of African teams. The continent’s nations boycotted the qualifying rounds in protest against FIFA’s decision to allocate only one spot for the African, Asian and Oceania confederations.
Chile – 1974
In 1974, we witnessed a qualified nation nearly boycot the World Cup on political grounds. In the intercontinetial play-off between Chile and the Soviet Union, the latter declinded to take part in the fixture in protest of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship.
He had toppled the socialist government, transforming Chile from a former Soviet ally into an adversary. Consequently, the Chilean players entered the pitch alone, with captain Francisco Valdes netting into an empty goal before the match was called off.
2022 World Cup protests
In more recent years, there have been very few boycott threats, but tensions did emerge during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. All 32 qualified teams participated in the tournament, but there were demonstrations from some players concerning alleged human rights violations and the nation’s controversial LGBT record.