By George James
In March earlier this year it was announced that all Russian clubs and the Russian National Team had received a global ban from both FIFA and UEFA competitions in the wake of Russia taking military action against neighbouring Ukraine. This of course means that Russia will miss the FIFA World Cup that is due to start on the 20th of November and now there are calls from across the globe to hand the same punishment to Iran.
The Ukrainian FA has appealed to FIFA to have Iran disqualified or banned from the world cup before it starts due to their supposed involvement in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. This appeal from the Ukrainian FA came a week after the Shakhtar Donetsk CEO, Sergei Palkin, called upon FIFA to ban Iran from the world cup and instead replace them with Ukraine. Palkin made this call after it was claimed that 7 Iranian drones had been shot down in Ukraine during the Russian invasion according to Omar Garrick of The Athletic, but the Ukrainian FA’s appeal also took into account a number of Human rights violations that have taken place in Iran.
So what are the Human rights grievances the Ukrainian FA is talking about and are there grounds for Iran to be banned from the world cup?
The fourth general provision of FIFA’s statutes states: “Discrimination of any kind against a country, private person or group of people on account of race, skin colour, ethnic, national or social origin, gender, disability, language, religion, political opinion or any other opinion, wealth, birth or any other status, sexual orientation or any other reason is strictly prohibited and punishable by suspension or expulsion“. This provision is the key part of the argument for Iran to be banned from the world cup and this is because in Iran women hold less rights than their male counterparts in society such as hijabs being compulsory and women needing their husband or guardian’s permission to leave the country. FIFA is a sporting body and therefore there is the argument it should only concern itself with sporting matters and this is highlighted in the second part of FIFA’s fourth general provision which states: “FIFA remains neutral in matters of politics and religion” and it can easily be argued that the aforementioned issues would fall under a religious matter and therefore is out of FIFA’s domain. However, there is also a sporting matter that is well within FIFA’s domain that would legitimize a FIFA sanction on Iran.
In Iran women are banned from spectating sporting events in stadiums. This is a clear example of discrimination against a group of people on account of gender and therefore is “strictly prohibited” by the fourth general provision mentioned above. It is this clear breach of FIFA’s statutes that gives real substance to calls for Iran to be banned from the world cup.
England are set to play Iran in their opening game of the tournament on the 21st of November and Wales are due to play them 4 days later on the 25th and this has led to further calls for some form of action to be taken against Iran from in the UK. Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran has written an open letter to England manager Gareth Southgate and captain Harry Kane urging them to make a display or gesture in solidarity with Iranian women who are “fighting for their civil liberties“. The issue of civil liberties in Iran has become particularly potent in world news due to massive protests, that have seen over 250 protestors die, following the death of Mahsa Amini on the 16th of September whilst she was in the custody of Iran’s Morality Police in Tehran for violations of Iran’s strict policy requiring women to cover their hair with a Hijab.
The issue is clearly highly contentious, and FIFA has controversially written to the 32 teams set to take part in the world cup and urged them to “focus on football”. According to the BBC the letter signed by Fifa president Gianni Infantino and secretary general Fatma Samoura reads:
“We know football does not live in a vacuum and we are equally aware that there are many challenges and difficulties of a political nature all around the world.
“But please do not allow football to be dragged into every ideological or political battle that exists.”
This letter appears to confirm FIFA’s position that they will not take action on Iran, either for their involvement in the Russia-Ukraine conflict or for their Human rights violations.
Why is no action being taken on Iran?
There are just over two weeks until the start of the world cup and therefore it would be highly impractical for Iran to be completely banned from the world cup. Palkin’s plea for Iran to be replaced by Ukraine would set a dangerous precedent as Ukraine failed to qualify for the world cup via the conventional qualification rounds. This means that awarding them a place at the world cup if Iran were to be disqualified could be deemed as unfair, as the rest of the nations that reached the same qualification stage as Ukraine are being overlooked in a sporting sense. Ukraine being awarded a place at the world cup is arguably deserved for the hardship that the country has gone through since February this year, but it could be deemed as immoral and unsporting for Ukraine to be awarded a place at the world cup for political reasons.
While a ban for Iran seems justified (based on their breach of the fourth general provision of FIFA’s statute), with just over two weeks to go it would be almost impossible to come to a fair decision (in a sporting sense) before the competition starts. Although a ban for Iran may be justified, awarding a world cup place to Ukraine purely for political reasons goes against the second part of FIFA’s fourth general provision as mentioned above. This also seems to be FIFA’s stance, as no action has yet been taken against Iran and FIFA’s urge to “focus on football” ahead of the world cup seems to imply that their position will not change.
This article further develops a chat on the most recent episode of the Liverpool Politics Hour: The Lunch Bunch & we think you should go and give that a listen too! Listen here: The Lunch Bunch
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