Baghdad (NINA) –The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) has suspended the activities of Iraq Football Federation.
A statement issued on Friday, Nov. 20, by the FIFA and was published on its web site, said, "FIFA has suspended Iraq from world soccer because of political interference in the national federation."
It added, "Soccer's world governing body says it is "unacceptable" for Iraq's Olympic committee to disband the federation this week for alleged financial and administrative irregularities."
The statement went on saying, "FIFA's emergency committee led by President Sepp Blatter imposed the suspension Friday after Iraq missed an overnight deadline to reinstate the federation."
The FIFA's web site said, "Iraq's national teams now cannot take part in international matches, and FIFA funding has been stopped."
It added, "However, FIFA says Iraq's under-16 girl's team can play in a weeklong tournament in Jordan starting Sunday."
The site concluded, "FIFA rules require full independence of national associations.
Last Monday, the Iraqi Olympic Committee dissolved the Iraqi Football Federation.
President of the dissolved Federation, Hussein Sa'eed, said, "The FIFA had sent a letter to the Iraqi government threatening that it will take severe measures against Iraq's Football within 72 hours unless things go back to normal, as they were before dissolving the Federation." / End.
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