Iran’s Minister of Sport and Youth Masoud Soltanifar meets with FIFA President Gianni Infantino in Tehran

In a meeting with FIFA President, Masoud Soltanifar welcomed FIFA’s Gianni Infantino and his office partners to Iran, wishing them a successful trip, and hoped this visit can contribute to good achievements for Iran’s football.” As one of the early qualifying teams to World Cup 2018, we have taken basic steps on financial and technical issues for our clubs,” the minister said.

Dr. Soltanifar stressed on the rights of Iranian clubs to play their home matches in Iran not in a third neutral party when competing against Saudi Arabia’s fixtures during AFC Cup. He also asked Infantino to deal with the issue in conjunction with Asian Football Confederation so that Iran could stage the events without the need to play in a third country.

FIFA’S Gianni Infantino expressed his hope that the problem of organizing matches between the two countries in their respective countries would be resolved.

Further, FIFA’s President held a meeting with Iran’s President Dr. Hassan Rouhani to discuss current football issues prior to appearing in Azadi Stadium to watch the derby between Esteghlal and Perspolis, inviting both the president and the minister to be as FIFA’s special guests for World Cup 2018 in Russia.

“Infantino and his colleagues left Iran to Switzerland on Friday night March 2, 2018 via Imam Khomeini Airport.”The news agency reported.