The Iranian football federation said on Thursday it will lodge a complaint with FIFA claiming its team is being subjected to travel restrictions during the World Cup in North America.
Iran wanted to fly from their base camp in Tijuana, Mexico, to the United States two days before their next match, against Belgium in Los Angeles on Sunday.
But a spokesperson for the Iranian federation said its request was turned down.
“Despite having submitted its preparation schedule for the tournament well in advance, Iran’s national football team has once again encountered restrictions imposed by the organisers, affecting the implementation of its technical staff’s plans,” the spokesperson said.
“Given that the game will be played at 12:00 pm local time in Los Angeles (1900 GMT), the Football Federation of Iran requested that the team be allowed to travel to Los Angeles two days before the match.”
It said the aim of its request was to allow players “to adapt to the match conditions, complete their final training session, and finalise preparations”.
“Despite the technical reasons presented by the federation, the request was once again denied,” the federation spokesperson added.
“The federation will formally express its dissatisfaction and lodge an official complaint with FIFA through the appropriate channels.”
The Iranians were also angry that they had to leave Los Angeles the night of their first game of the World Cup, a 2-2 draw against New Zealand.
