Due to security situation prevailing in their countries, Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan have applied to the Iranian football federation and the government to play the FIFA World Cup 2018 qualifying home games on Iranian soils.

As Team Melli has its own schedule and since the matches are conducted on the same day in each round, complicated scheduling and arrangements have to be carried out in order to accommodate all the three countries request.

All these countries are important political allies for Iran and the welcoming rug has been extended by the government, however, the logistics and timing will prevent the availability of the stadiums for 4 teams at the same time.

Afghanistan is the first country to think of withdrawing its request to play on Iranian soils although it is the team that has the most fans in Iran. A recent youth tournament attracted over 90,000 Afghan fans in Azadi. Alireza Aghazadeh, the secretary of Afghanistan Football federation has said “The Iranian authorities and federation have been quite accommodating and welcomed our request. We know that Iraq and Syria have requested the same, so we need to be fair and look elsewhere. Syria is in our group which makes it even more complicated playing in Iran. We are looking at Tajikistan and UAE to host our matches.”

Afghanistan will be hosting Syria in the first match. As yet, the venue has not been decided.