JAKARTA - Ukraine's top football club, Shakhtar Donetsk, on Monday urged FIFA to remove Iran from the 2022 World Cup for allegedly supporting Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Shakhtar chief executive Sergei Palkin accused Iran of "playing and directly in terrorist attacks against Ukraine" and asked Ukraine to be a replacement for Iran in the Qatar World Cup.
"This will be a fair decision that should serve as a reminder to the world of a regime that kills its best people and helps kill Ukrainians," Palkin said in a statement a day before his team played against Celtic in the Champions League.
The US claims to have evidence that Iranian forces are "directly involved in the field" in Crimea in supporting drone attacks on various Ukrainian infrastructure and civilians.
Ukraine's chief intelligence service Kyrylo Budanov said Russia had used about 330 Iranian-made "Shahed" drones on Saturday.
Russia and Iran both deny the drones are Iranian-made.
Iran started an adventure in the 2022 World Cup on November 21 against England, and then faced Wales and the United States in Group B.
Wales qualified after beating Ukraine in the June playoffs.
FIFA did not respond to this news, but FIFA has suspended Russia's national team due to an invasion in Ukraine and banned Russia from playing in the World Cup qualifying playoffs in March.
FIFA usually only suspends the national team when the country's government interferes with its national football federation.
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