The International Federation of Football Association (FIFA) has given the green light to Iraq to play the matches of the Mesopotamian lions in the double qualifiers for the World Cup 2022 and the Asian Cup 2023, at the Basra International Stadium, according to a brief statement of the Iraqi Federation, yesterday.
The FIFA published on its page on «Facebook» that «(FIFA) agrees to the request of Iraq to play the World Cup qualifiers in Basra», without further details.
Mohammed Khalaf, head of the Iraqi Football Federation's media office, said: "We have officially received a notice from the International Football Federation (FIFA) allowing the Iraqi team to play in the Asian double qualifiers at the Basra International Stadium."
Khalaf added that «the International Federation based on the evaluation visit made recently, a delegation from (FIFA) to the city of Basra, Erbil and Karbala and inspect its stadiums». The International Federation last month asked his Iraqi counterpart to determine a stadium outside the country to hold matches in Iraq "for security reasons," according to the letter, but the Iraqi Federation protested this, and filed a claim before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cass), before freezing it On the sidelines of the visit of the delegation «Viva» this month, according to a source in the Iraqi Union.
With the request of «FIFA», there was speculation in the local sports community about the possibility of the return of the ban on Iraqi stadiums again, especially since several sources pointed to the discontent of the International Federation of the stadiums in Iraq, and irregularities that have not been addressed.
The Iraqi team will start the double qualifiers for the World Cup and Asian Cup against Bahrain in Manama on the fifth of next September, in a group also includes Iran, Cambodia and Hong Kong.