On behalf of his club, the general director of Shakhtar Donetsk, Sergey Palkin, called on FIFA to exclude the Iranian national team from the 2022 World Cup due to the fact that this country is a direct accomplice of the terrorist country, the laptenga of the under-empire called "Russia".
Sergey Palkin (photo: V. Rasner)“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. Almost 250 such drones have already attacked the peaceful cities of Ukraine. Each of them was produced, supplied by the Iranian authorities. Iranian instructors and the military directly trained and supervised the launches of drones that destroyed houses, museums, universities, offices, sports and playgrounds, and most importantly, killed Ukrainians. Among them are children. Children who also dreamed of seeing their team at the World Cup.
The Shakhtar Football Club calls on FIFA and the entire international community to achieve an immediate ban on the participation of the Iranian national team in the World Cup for the direct participation of this country in the terrorist attacks of Ukrainians. This will be a fair decision, which should draw the attention of the whole world to a regime that kills its best people and helps to kill Ukrainians.
The vacant place should be occupied by the Ukrainian national team, which has proved that it deserves to participate in the World Cup. Having unequal conditions with other teams during the play-offs, she played with her heart.
Such a decision is historically and sportingly justified. I urge everyone to join the pressure on the football bureaucracy. Stop repeating the mistakes of the 2018 World Cup in Russia, hiding behind an empty thesis about the apathy of sports.
Facilitating the participation of terrorists in the World Cup is politics. It's time to put an end to such a policy," Shakhtar's press service quoted Palkin as saying.
Recall that in Iran itself they also call for the exclusion of the national team of this country from the 2022 World Cup.
