BAGHDAD – Soccer's world governing body abruptly lifted the suspension of Iraq's soccer association yesterday, easing concerns that Iraq's team, a rare symbol of national unity, would be banned from the 2010 World Cup.
The move was greeted with relief on the streets of Baghdad, where soccer fans feared that the players, who became national heroes after winning the Asian Cup last summer, would fall victim to political wrangling between Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government and FIFA, the sport's Zurich-based ruling body.
On Monday, FIFA suspended Iraq's national soccer association, citing an Iraqi government decision to disband Iraq's Olympic Committee and other national sport federations as “serious political interference” in sport.
After meeting in Sydney, FIFA officials delivered an ultimatum saying that the government had to reverse the decision by midnight yesterday, Australian time, or the soccer association would be suspended for one year. The timing was crucial as the Iraqi team is scheduled to play Australia in Brisbane on Sunday in the first of four crucial games in June that will determine whether Iraq goes through to the next Asian qualifying round of the World Cup.
But with the Iraqi team so popular at home and abroad after its giant-killing triumph over Saudi Arabia in the final of the 2007 Asian Cup in Indonesia, neither side appeared to want to see it fall victim to a legal dispute.
The Iraqi government sent a letter to FIFA claiming that its order did not apply to soccer or sporting activities but only to the financial and administrative dealings of officials on the Iraqi Olympic Committee's executive. The government accused some officials of corruption and failing to hold proper elections.
Yesterday, a few hours before its ultimatum expired, FIFA issued a statement saying it had decided to “provisionally and conditionally lift the suspension.”
The FIFA statement described the Iraqi government's letter as a “positive step” but said it “does not fully answer all of FIFA's concerns about the governmental attempts to control the Iraqi federations and the Iraqi National Olympic Committee.”
It said the suspension could be reimposed if there were any further violation and invited a delegation from the Asian Football Confederation, the Iraqi Football Association and the Iraqi government to Zurich “as soon as possible to clarify all outstanding issues.”
