By Melory Ghazi and Rishabh Jaiswal
June 20 (Reuters) – Iran plans to lodge a complaint with football’s world governing body FIFA over travel restrictions its team is facing in the U.S. at the World Cup.
Due to uncertainty over visas and the conflict with the U.S., the Iranian team are commuting from their tournament base in co-host Mexico for their three group games in the United States.
U.S. authorities require them to enter within 24 hours of a match and leave the same day, leading team coach Amir Ghalenoei to say Iran were the “most oppressed” team in the tournament.
“The Football Federation of Iran believes these restrictions are inconsistent with the principles of providing equal conditions for participating teams and may affect their technical preparation,” the federation said in a statement on Friday announcing its protest to FIFA.
FIFA did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
Andrew Giuliani, director of the White House World Cup Task Force, told British newspaper The Telegraph that he would be open to renegotiating the terms of Iran’s entry to the United States.
He added that Washington could consider allowing Iran to stay longer around their matches.
“Look, everything is dynamic, things can be discussed on this and we certainly want to create competitive fair play on the field, that’s why every coach on the team has got their visa, has the opportunity to come in,” he said in Seattle ahead of United States’ match against Australia.
“The president wants to make sure this tournament strikes a competitive balance, while also making sure bad actors don’t get into the country. We’ve done that, with a month to go.”
SAFE AND SECURE
Coach Ghalenoei said the disruption had affected his team in their 2‑2 draw with New Zealand.
“Under the coaching staff’s plan, the national team needed to travel to the host city two days before each match in order to achieve optimal technical and physical condition, and then return to their base the day after the match,” the federation said.
“However, for the opening match against New Zealand, this request was not approved.”
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said the measures were safety precautions agreed with Iran, who face Belgium on June 21 in Los Angeles and will conclude their Group G fixtures against Egypt on June 27 in Seattle.
“The team will be allowed to come in match day minus one, so the day before the match. They’ll be asked to leave the day that the match wraps up, so the evening of the match,” a department spokesperson said in response to an email query from Reuters.
“Again, the President wants to make sure that we’re talking about what actually happens on the pitch. A lot of that is making sure that things are safe and secure, not just around the stadiums, but around base camps and training sites.”
(Reporting by Melory Ghazi in Dubai, and Rishabh Jaiswal and Karan Prashant Saxena in Bengaluru; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Peter Rutherford)
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