Most of the Afghanistan men’s team will boycott the World Cup qualifier against Qatar. Also, it is part of their protest for the substandard treatment they received from the Afghanistan Football Federation. The team’s three captains wrote a letter outlining their complaints. In addition, they included allegations of corruption within the federation.
Farshad Noor, the captain, and Faysal Shayesteh, his predecessor, are among the other players who have signed the petition requesting an investigation by FIFA into claims that high-ranking AFF officials have been misusing monies intended for the growth of the sport in the nation.
According to Behram Siddiqui, general secretary of the AFF, such behavior falls within the authority of FIFA’s compliance staff. Also, he refuted the charges. According to football betting reports, the federation’s audit must reveal the source of the monies if they came from a sponsorship. Fazil Mohammad Shahab, the former general secretary, completed a 2021 audit report. In addition, he submitted it to FIFA.
Afghanistan to Boycott the World Cup Qualifier
After advancing to the next round of World Cup qualification, the AFF was supposed to provide the team with a $30,000 bonus. Still, the players claim that the executive committee members split the money. Siddiqui denied this, saying each player had been given $20,000 and the remaining $10,000 had been used “to meet our national team’s expenditures during training camp, as we have not received any money in our bank account for the last ten months.”
According to online sports wagering reports, FIFA does not pay all players to fly domestically to join the national team. Thus, the federation used the funds to pay for the domestic flights of the national team players from various provinces.
Shayesteh and his colleagues have accused members of the AFF leadership of embezzling funds meant for players’ airplane tickets to away games. According to records seen by the best soccer sportsbooks, the AFF requested reimbursement from FIFA for nearly $65,000 for a June trip to the Central Asian Football Association Nations Cup in Kyrgyzstan.
