Four members of the Iranian World Cup delegation won appeals on the rejection of their visas to the United States, Yankee Scores reports.
In contrast, eleven members of the delegation will not be able to travel to the United States due to their team’s participation in the games in the U.S.
The government of Iran charged the United States last week with the refusal to provide visas to some integral members of the Iranian national football team’s support personnel.
This was preceded by announcements made by US authorities confirming that Iranian players had received authorization to attend the games in the United States.
In connection with the security problems caused by conflicts between Iran and the United States, Iran decided to change its base during the World Cup to Mexico.
Out of fifteen delegation members who initially did not receive U.S. visas, ten people appealed to the U.S. Embassy in Mexico; four of these applications were approved, per BBC Sports.
Contrasting Fortunes
Among those receiving visas, there is a member of the technical staff of the team working as an analyst and two people from the international office of the Iranian Football Federation (FFIRI).
The other six people again had their application rejected. They are the President of the FFIRI, Mehdi Taj, the vice-president of the federation, two persons dealing with everyday work, a media person, and a security officer.
The second media representative did not reapply after being initially denied.
The games in which Iran is to participate will be held in Los Angeles against New Zealand on June 15.
Their schedule indicates that they are going to visit the city to play Belgium on 21 June, then travel to Seattle to play Egypt on 26 June.
In recent times, the US government denied Iran access to the World Cup group stage tickets, although FIFA claims that it is working to provide Iranian supporters with opportunities to attend the games.
FFIRI had presented to FIFA a list of ten conditions that needed to be fulfilled before its team could compete in the World Cup, among which was the inclusion of players, coaches, and administrators who had completed their military duty with IRGC.
According to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Iran players would be able to take part in the World Cup, while those associated with the IRGC would find difficulty entering the US.
Iran had refused to attend a FIFA congress in Vancouver, Canada, when officials were turned back at the Canadian border due to IRGC affiliation.
FIFA does not place any restriction on the number of team members participating in the World Cup, but it is willing to bear costs for up to 50 people only.
