Iraq says senior FIFA figure supports lift of ban on all stadiums
Iraq National Football team
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Iraq said Tuesday it was told by the world’s soccer governing body, FIFA, it is for a total lift of the ban on Iraqi stadiums that had been in place since the 1990s.
The Iraqi Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Ahmed Maghoub, told Alsumaria News that Sándor Csányi, FIFA’s deputy president, informed the Iraqi mission to Budapest he supports a lift of the ban on all Iraqi fields during the federation’s next meeting, slated for June in Moscow.
Iraqi pitches have not seen internationals games since its 1990 invasion of Kuwait under late leader Saddam Hussein based on a FIFA decision that excluded domestic matches.
But last month, FIFA decided to allow international matches to be staged in the cities of Erbil, Basra and Karbala.
Late February, Iraq’s national team hosted an international friendly with Saudi Arabia in Basra, their first on Iraqi playfields in 40 years.