WANA (Jul 02) – Lotfollah Kaveh Afrasiabi, an Iranian-American international affairs analyst, former Harvard University lecturer, and former official adviser to Iran’s nuclear negotiating team during the Barack Obama administration, has filed a $1 billion lawsuit against FIFA, FIFA President Gianni Infantino, and several FIFA officials, alleging Iran’s elimination from the 2026 FIFA World Cup resulted from a wrongful refereeing decision.

 

According to reports, Afrasiabi filed the complaint in a federal court in Boston on June 30 on behalf of 91 million Iranians and Iranian-Americans who supported Iran’s national football team and, he claims, suffered emotional harm due to discrimination against the team.

 

The lawsuit accuses FIFA of “double standards, hypocrisy and blatant discrimination.” It centers on Iran’s June 26 match against Egypt, in which Iran’s apparent winning goal was ruled out for offside following a VAR review.

 

The match ended 1-1, allowing Egypt to advance to the knockout stage while Iran was eliminated.

 

Afrasiabi alleges there is “clear and undeniable” evidence that the VAR system reached an incorrect decision and claims the ruling was deliberately designed to deny Iran victory.

 

He also cited restrictions imposed on the Iranian team in the United States, including a ban on overnight stays, the relocation of the team’s training camp from Tucson to Tijuana, and the denial of visas for 11 staff members, arguing that these measures imposed severe hardships on both the team and its supporters.

 

Afrasiabi said FIFA failed to uphold its obligation to ensure fair and equal treatment for Iran’s national team and added that part of any damages awarded would be allocated to youth sports programs in Iran.

 

FIFA has not yet commented on the lawsuit.