Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Iraq to ask FIFA to lift ban on home matches

Associated Press Sports

updated 8:14 a.m. ET April 2, 2012

BAGHDAD (AP) -The Iraqi Football Association will ask FIFA to lift the ban on home international matches at stadiums across the country, federation member Abdul-Khaliq Massoud said Monday.

Officials will travel to Zurich this month to meet with FIFA executives.

"The delegation will seek approval to lift the ban on holding official matches in our stadiums," Massoud said. "We hope that the FIFA officials will reply positively to our request."

Massoud said they will present FIFA with evidence that Iraq is safe and capable of hosting international matches.

"These evidence will include Iraq's success in holding the Arab summit on security and logistics levels plus the trouble-free matches in the Iraqi league," Massoud said.

FIFA banned Iraq from playing home qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup and 2012 Olympics after a power outage in a stadium in the Kurdish city of Irbil during Iraq's World Cup qualifier against Jordan in September.

The match was suspended for more than five minutes when the stadium lights went off because of the power outage. Jordan won 2-0.

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


advertisement

More news
Henry's 3 goals lead Red Bulls

MLS roundup: Thierry Henry scored his first career MLS hat trick and set up goal to lead the New York Red Bulls to a 5-2 victory over the expansion Montreal Impact on Saturday.

Iraq to ask FIFA to lift ban on home matches

BAGHDAD (AP) -The Iraqi Football Association will ask FIFA to lift the ban on home international matches at stadiums across the country, federation member Abdul-Khaliq Massoud said Monday.

national signing day ferris bueller allen west god bless america earned income credit super bowl commercials florida primary 2012

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.