Shakhtar Donetsk chief suggests Ukraine should take Iran’s place in 2022 Qatar World Cup

Iran should be kicked out of the 2022 Qatar World Cup insisted Shakhtar Donetsk’s general director, Serhiy Palkin.

Serhiy Palkin, the general director of Ukrainian football club FC Shakhtar Donetsk addressed FIFA and the football community on Thursday, October 27, suggesting that the national football team of Iran has no right to participate in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Due to terrorist attacks on Ukraine by Iranian drones, Iran’s place at the tournament – which will start in less than one month’s time – should be taken by Ukraine, claimed Palkin, as reported by interfax.com.ua.

Rinat Akhmetova, the Ukrainian club’s manager, said that while the Iranian leadership will have fun watching their team play at the World Cup, Ukrainians will be killed by Iranian drones and Iranian missiles.

“Already, almost 250 such drones have attacked peaceful cities of Ukraine. Each of them was made and delivered by the Iranian authorities”, read the appeal to FIFA.

It continued: “Iranian instructors and military directly trained and managed the launches of drones that destroyed houses, museums, universities, offices, sports, and playgrounds, and most importantly – killed Ukrainians, in particular children. Children who also dreamed of watching their national team at the World Cup”.

Palkin called on FIFA and the entire international community to seek an immediate ban on the participation of the Iranian national team in the World Cup for their direct participation in terrorist attacks against Ukrainians.

Ukraine should take the place of Iran he said. “Such a decision is historically and sportingly justified. I call on everyone to join the pressure on the football bureaucracy. It is enough to repeat the mistakes of the 2018 World Cup in Russia, hiding behind an empty thesis about the apolitical nature of sports”.

“Facilitating the participation of terrorists in the World Cup is politics. It is time to put an end to such politics”, Palkin summarised. Earlier, Shakhtar called for the complete exclusion of Russia from the ranks of FIFA and UEFA.

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