Iraq wants his World Cup qualifier from Jordan’s capital Amman next month, returning a Palestinian proposal to staging the match just outside Jerusalem.
The final football played in Palestinian regions was in International October 2019 and Palestine staged its “home” fixtures at neutral locations in Qatar, Jordan, Kuwait and Malaysia.
Palestine is due to hosting Iraq in the Group B match in the third round of Asian qualifying on 25 March and after a proposal to play matches in Palestinian areas, FIFA proposed Amman as a neutral site.
The Iraqi Football Association (IFA) said in a statement on Thursday that it wrote to the world governing body of football that the match was asked to be transferred to another city as Amman was playing in Amman, which would violate FIFA rules at neutral places.
IFA read in the statement, “This decision raises serious questions about the integrity and fairness of the competition, which Group B read in Group B,” read the IFA statement.
“Iraq, Jordan and Palestine are direct contestants in the group and the gap between Iraq and Jordan in Standing is currently very close.”
Iraq ranks second in the group with 11 points, leaving Jordan behind in third place with two points and three points. The top two teams of the group progress directly to the 2026 World Cup finals in North America.
The Palestine Football Association (PFA) issued a statement on Thursday, regretting Iraq’s decision that the match was not allowed to proceed at the Faisal Al-Hussaini International Stadium in Al-Ram, Jerusalem.
The PFA stated that the FIFA and Asian Football Confederation (AFC) inspected the stadium and agreed that the match could be played there, but only with the agreement of Iraqis.
The statement said that we were surprised to know that our colleagues in the Iraqi Football Association had unilaterally decided to reject Palestine and communicated it with AFC and FIFA without consulting the PFA directly.
“Despite this decision, we confirm our unwavering commitment to recover our rights to host matches on the soil of our house – a right that we have tirelessly struggled to maintain and retain for years.”
IFA said “despite our curiosity to hold a match in Pyare Palestine and stand with Palestinian Games at this time,” the body decided to refuse the body due to lack of VAR technology in the stadium.
Reuters have approached FIFA and AFC for comment.
Palestine is below Group B with three points after six matches. Neither Palestine nor Jordan qualified for the first World Cup final, while Iraq lost all three games in 1986 at Mexico.
