Federation president among those not granted visa
Snub for Washington event deemed ‘unsportsmanlike’
Iran will boycott the draw for next year’s World Cup in protest at the United States’ limited allocation of visas for members of the Iranian delegation, the country’s football federation has announced.
The United States has long-standing strict visa restrictions on Iranians for political and security reasons. It was presumed within Iran, however, that the policy would not extend to next Friday’s event in Washington.
“The Iranian delegation will not be present for the World Cup draw in relation to the latest status of issuing visas for the Iranian delegation to attend the draw ceremony,” the federation spokesperson Amir Mehdi Alavi was quoted as saying by Iranian sports news website Tarafdari on Friday.
