The Ukrainian national football team can go world championship 2022 in Qatar to replace the Iranian national team, who close to disqualification due to the political processes in this country.
The Iranian national team qualified for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and, following the draw, returned to the same group with England, Wales and the United States.
But Iranian footballers and sports officials wrote a letter to FIFA asking them to remove their country’s national team from the next World Cup, journalist and activist Masih Alinejad said.
The letter from the Iranians, addressed to FIFA, said: “The country’s cruelty and belligerence towards its people has reached a critical point, calling for an unequivocal and rigid dissociation from the world of football and sport”. Iranian fans have turned to FIFA with a similar request.
After the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died after being arrested by the Iranian police for wearing the hijab incorrectly, a wave of protests swept the country. The letter from Iranian footballers also stated that women are “systematically excluded from the football ecosystem in Iran”.
The World Cup will take place in Qatar from November 20 to December 18. The Ukrainian national team failed to qualify for the World Cup, losing in the decisive playoff match against Wales (0: 1). Interestingly, Wales and Iran are in the same group for the 2022 World Cup.
Composition of the 2022 FIFA World Cup group
