FIFA requests to transfer the two matches of Iraq qualifying for the World Cup away from home

Ali Nouri

Fifa has decided to move Iraq against Iran and Bahrain in the qualifiers of Qatar 2022 and Asian Cup 2023, which was scheduled to be held in the city of Basra on the 14th and 19th of this month away from home because of the current situation and the escalation of the wave of demonstrations in the country.

FIFA sent an official letter at dawn today to its Iraqi counterpart confirming the transfer of the two games outside the Iraqi stadiums and requested the selection of another neutral country by Thursday to enable all interested parties to focus their attention on the successful submission of the two games in a safe and secure environment.

"As you know, the international and Asian federations are closely monitoring the safety and security situation in Iraq in recent weeks to find out the reality of the situation before hosting the qualifiers against Iran and Bahrain," said FIFA's letter to the Iraqi Federation.

"Unfortunately, events earlier this week confirmed a significant deterioration in the overall security situation, making conditions on the ground incompatible with hosting scheduled matches in Iraq," the IFRC said in its speech.

FIFA has asked the Iraqi federation to nominate a neutral venue outside the country, with the site selected readily available to the visiting teams, as well as the ability to provide all the necessary safeguards for a smooth visa process for both delegations.

FIFA expressed the hope that the Iraqi Federation will accept the decision and obtain written approval from it, expressing regret at the circumstances that led to the need for this request and the transfer of matches of the Iraqi team away from home.

Alternative place
In his first reaction to FIFA's decision, Ali Jabbar, vice president of the Iraqi Football Federation, expressed his surprise at the move.He told Al Jazeera Net that his country offered all the guarantees and assurances that confirm the possibility of holding the two confrontations at the Basra Stadium, and pledged that the atmosphere would be ideal and in a safe environment for visiting delegations.

Jabbar confirmed that the federation was surprised by the arrival of a FIFA book late "informing us of the transfer of the Iraqi team matches in the double qualifiers outside our court and that we must find the alternative as soon as possible."

"We no longer have any choice but to accept the fait accompli, especially since the demonstrations have expanded to include the majority of Iraqi cities, and although this will not affect the safety of any team coming to visit Iraq, we will meet today and choose the alternative country to be our supposed land, although the initial choice was made on the capital Jordan Amman to be the venue for the two games. "

The manager of the national team and former international player Basil Korkis described the decision as "unfair" against Iraqi football and its fans who were eager to see their team play at home again.

"We never expected the decision to be this way, even if there were demonstrations. Iraq is not the only country where these events take place," Corkis told Al Jazeera Net. "It happened in Hong Kong and the Iranian team went and played there without any problems. Any decision in this regard. "

"We put the worst odds in our calculations and we expected the two games to be moved to Erbil to stabilize the security situation there greatly, but the decision to move the two confrontations outside the Iraqi stadiums surprised us all," he said.

Rahim Hamid, assistant coach of the national team, expressed his deep regret that the matches against Iran and Bahrain were taken out of Iraq. He said in his interview with Al Jazeera Net, "We were counting a lot on resolving the matches of Iran and Bahrain in our favor by playing at home and among our fans, especially as the Iraqi team tops the group and get points matches means to ensure the qualification by a large percentage."

"We feel great injustice, and it seems that the Iraqi team has always written on him not to play games at home and his fans after the stadiums of neighboring countries as a virtual land for him."

The Iraqi public expressed deep sadness over FIFA's decision, which it described as unfair after completing the preparations to receive the Iranian and Bahraini teams. All the atmosphere was prepared to show the confrontations at the required level away from the charged atmosphere related to the popular protests.

Iraq played Hong Kong in the World Cup qualifier on October 10 in Basra, their first official match at home after the eight-year ban was lifted.

Other blows
The Iraqi federation had previously suffered another painful blow by the decision of the Asian Federation to move the Asian qualifiers outside Iraq, which was scheduled to be hosted by the city of Karbala, southwest of Baghdad on the second of this month with the participation of Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Palestine and Pakistan.

The AFC has decided to move the group's matches to the Omani capital Muscat, which will host the qualifiers on the twentieth of this month.

The Arab Football Federation has decided to transfer the match of the Air Force and MC Algiers to the Franco Hariri Stadium in Erbil, Kurdistan, Iraq, after it was supposed to be held in the city of Karbala on the second of this month, to be postponed to the seventh of this month to be held in Basra, which is also witnessing Mass protests before being relocated to Erbil recently.