Much to the dismay of Iraqi fans, FIFA, the governing body for international soccer suspended the Iraqi Football Association for a year from participating from all international competitions.

FIFA’s executive board announced that it had imposed the ban in the wake of Iraqi government’s move to disband the country’s National Olympic Committee and all its national sport federations.

FIFA announced its decision ahead of this weekend’s world cup qualifying match against Australia. However FIFA said in a statement that they would agree to lift the ban if the Iraqi government overturned its decision and reinstate their National Olympic Committee and National Futbol Team and provide FIFA in writing, proof that these actions have been taken by 1400 GMT on May 29 midnight (Sydney time).

The International Olympic Committee and the Olympic Committee of Asia also threatened to suspend Iraq’s membership over the board’s dissolution, which the government announced last Tuesday. Suspension of Iraq by the IOC would bar its athletes from competing in the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China in August.

This comes as a rude shock to the ardent Iraqi fans who less than a year ago saw their team win the Asian Cup Final 1-0 against Saudi Arabia. Soccer is the number one sport in Iraq and has proved to be a unifying force as Iraqi soccer fans last summer, barring their sectarian differences poured into the street when the team won the Asia Cup. It is the only thing that offers joy and excitement to the people of Iraq, otherwise a war-torn country.

‘’The Iraqi people were killing each other and sports united them. This is an outrageous failure. We don’t have anything left but the air, and if the politicians were capable they would take that away.'’ Samir Sabeeh, 36, a Sunni Muslim and an ardent soccer fan.

‘’No water, no electricity and now no sports,'’ Omar Mohammed, 28, said as he prepared sandwiches at a shop in Adhamiyah. ‘’This is mass murder and deliberate execution.'’

The government action has received sharp criticism from Iraqi newspapers and television as well.

The chances of an agreement being reached appeared slim as Iraq Sports Minister, Jasem Mohammed Jaafar told Reuters on Sunday

“Iraq will not back down from a decision to dissolve the country’s Olympic Committee even if it leads to its soccer team being thrown out of the next World Cup competition. The government won’t pull back from its decision… for the sake of a football match”

“We have replied to them (FIFA) in a formal letter yesterday, telling them that the disbanding ... doesn’t cover the sports federations in which the soccer federation is included,”

Basam Ridha al Husseini, an adviser to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, said the government would not reverse its decision and accused former committee members of corruption. He called FIFA’s decision

‘’wrong'’

Any suspension would destroy Iraq’s dream of competing at the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa.

Iraq were due to play Australia in a qualifier in Brisbane on Sunday then again in Dubai next week and any cancellation would increase Australia’s chances of making it through to the next stage of qualifying but the Football Federation of Australia (FFA) would lose about A$3 million ($2.88 million) in ticket sales and sponsorship.

The Iraq team were in Thailand preparing to leave for Australia when FIFA announced the decision. Iraq coach Adnan Hamad told Reuters in Bangkok “The decision is a big shock for the players. They are depressed,”

The Iraqi team provided their war-torn homeland with a rare moment of celebration in 2007 when they won the Asian Cup in one of sport’s great modern fairytales.

“They believe this team is the only thing that can bring the country together,” Hamad, a fan said.

via: Yahoo