AFC wants FIFA to revoke ban on Iraq

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Basra, March 1: The Asian Football Confederation head called for Iraq to be allowed to host competitive international matches, as FIFA gears up to decide on whether to lift a ban on the strife-torn nation.

"The time has come to end the three-decade-long ban," AFC chief Salman bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa said at the Basra stadium ahead of an international friendly in which Iraq beat Saudi Arabia 4-1.

AFC chief Al-Khalifa says FIFA should come and see for themselves that Iraq is ready to host matches safely.

"We ask FIFA to take this decision and we invite FIFA's leaders to come and watch matches in Iraq," he said.

Gianni Infantino who is the president of world football's governing body FIFA was invited by Iraq's football authorities but did not travel to Basra for the match.

FIFA is due to decide on March 16 whether to lift the ban preventing Iraq from hosting competitive international matches.

The country has not played full internationals on home turf ever since its 1990 invasion of Kuwait that sparked an international embargo.

The ban, covering all but domestic matches, stayed in place after the US-led invasion of 2003 that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein.

It was briefly lifted in 2012, but a power outage during an Iraq-Jordan match in the Iraqi Kurdish capital Arbil led FIFA to promptly reinstate it.

Iraq in December had declared victory over the Islamic State and FIFA finally relaxed the ban, allowing international friendlies in Basra, Karbala and in Arbil.