00:00Under the FIFA statutes, it is the independent decision
00:03of the Iranian Football Association
00:05to decide whether to participate in the World Championships or not to.
00:09It is not a political decision of the political leaders in Iran.
00:13So it is a decision of the association.
00:15And as far as I know, there is no clear decision
00:18of the Iranian Football Association not to participate.
00:21It might be, and it seems, realistic that they will withdraw
00:25and there are some hints that they will,
00:28but by now there is no formal decision of the Iranian Football Federation.
00:32The ones who are most punished by not participating
00:36are the players of the Iranian national team
00:40and it's quite unfair to put that punishment on them
00:43so that's a thing FIFA should think about
00:46whether to have similar to the Olympic Games
00:49where you have the refugee team
00:51to have a similar team.
00:53I don't know the specific conditions of that
00:56and it will definitely cause difficulties in resolving
00:59but having a team consisting of Iranian national football players
01:04but not under the Iranian flag whatsoever
01:08that is something FIFA should think about.
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