Tehran: Iranian Football Federation has filed a complaint with the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA) against the background of removing the word “Allah” from the Islamic Republic’s flag, in a post by the United States national team on social media.
The flag of the Islamic Republic consists of three horizontal bands of red, white and green, with the word “Allah” in a stylized font in the middle.
This comes after the US national team’s account on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook published, on Saturday, November 26 in several posts, the Iranian national flag in its green, white and red colours only, without a logo, including the large image that is located in the front of the account (cover photo).
The official Iranian news agency IRNA said, “In an unprofessional act, the Instagram page of the US Soccer Federation removed the symbol of Allah from the Iranian flag. The Iranian Football Federation sent an email to FIFA (the International Federation of Football), asking it to issue a serious warning to American Federation”.
“By posting a distorted image of the flag of the Islamic Republic of #Iran on its official account, the #US football team breached the @FIFAcom charter, for which a 10-game suspension is the appropriate penalty,” Iran state-aligned Tasnim news agency wrote on Twitter on Sunday. “Team #USA should be kicked out of the #WorldCup2022.”
US footballer told CNN on Sunday that it wanted to change the official flag for 24 hours to show “support for the women in Iran fighting for basic human rights” but always planned to go back to the original flag.
The change “was a one-time graphic. We have the main flag on our website and other places,” the footballer added.
The Twitter banner reinstated Iran’s official flag on Sunday afternoon and the posts were removed after criticism mounted online.
This comes as the US national team prepares to face its Iranian counterpart, on Tuesday, November 29, in the third round of Group Two competitions in the group stage of the World Cup 2022, and the group also includes England and Wales.
US coach Greg Berhalter confirmed on Saturday that politics would not be involved in his country’s fateful match against Iran, next Tuesday, according to AFP.
“The thing about football is that you meet so many different people from all over the world and you have a common love for this sport,” Berhalter said at a press conference.
