FIFA to German Politicians: Iran will Play in World Cup

FIFA has rebuked calls from German politicians and media that Iran should be banned from the World Cup for a series of inflammatory comments that have been recently made by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who among other things has called the Holocaust a “myth.”

While it is understandable that such comments have led to outrage around the world, and especially in Germany, FIFA is absolutely correct to maintain a policy of separating sports from politics. Punishing Iran’s athletes for the comments of their president would only open up a can of worms and take away from the purpose of the World Cup, which simply put is to bring together the world’s best teams to compete on the pitch

No country comes to the World Cup without political baggage and it is unrealistic to believe that politics won’t be involved when nations compete in any sport. But for the sake of the billions of people around the world who will tune into this year’s tournament in part because it provides a joyous escape from the everyday reality of newspaper headlines, can’t we try to leave the politics at home?