From the evidence and documents that the Iranians provided to the AFC and prior to that to FIFA , much of it was seen by journalists , It seems that there is a genuine doping case with verified positive test results . Al’a AbdulZahra the 27-year-old Iraqi player was tested positive for banned stimulant methylhexaneamine, not only by the Iranian Doping commission, but also verified by a WADA-approved laboratory in Cologne, Germany.
By the time that the Cologne report was back, Al’a AbdulZahra abruptly left Tabriz under mysterious circumstances. His two years contract was cancelled by Tractorsazi. As such , the Iranian authorities and FFIRI , no longer had any jurisdiction on the Iraqi player who popped up in Baghdad , playing for the Police Club (Al Shorta).
According to the Iranian officials, the report and doping lab results on AbdulZahra was submitted to FIFA on September 2014 as mandated by the Games ruling body, and they left it at that.
FIFA did promised to act, but did not respond, verify or query the Iranian documents any further, according to the Iranian side, until the FFIRI once again contacted FIFA and demanded a response on January 21st , 2015. The trail ends there as no one has seen any official response from FIFA.
There is very little doubt, if any, that AbdulZahra should be suspended according to the rules. However, suspension must be announced after investigations and a verdict from the ruling body , in this case FIFA. Those in corridors of power in FIFA failed to act and for that reason only, the case of Iran against Abdul Zahra was doomed to fail. The Iraq FA and the coach would not voluntarily suspend a valuable player unless there is a document and a ruling by FIFA or AFC. As long as there is nothing official, there is no case to answer.
AFC on the other hand, cannot overturn the result simply because there is no ruling. However , given all the documents and the doping results verified by approved WADA lab in Germany and still insisting that Abdul Zahra is clear to play the next match, leaves major questions unanswered about the legitimacy of this issue. We suspect that those in power in AFC know a few things about the law and would not act arbitrarily. AFC has not issued any communique regarding the subject (up to the time of writing this report) and no explanation was provided on reasons for rejection of Iran’s case. There has to be genuine reasons for it , that the Iranians officials have probably been informed about by AFC but it is not publicized yet.
In any case, these was serious doubt that Iraq would be thrown out from the moment that this issues was raised. We find that if there is a case, it is between FFIRI and FIFA , not with AFC or the AFC Asian Cup organizers.
