Iraq v Iran doping scandal 2015 AFC Asian Cup
According to the vice-head of the Iranian anti- doping agency, Dr. Ramin Tabatabaei, Iraq player Alaa Abdul-Zahra failed drug testing in Iran when he was in Teraktor and as a consequence should have been deemed ineligible for the Iraq versus Iran quarter final.
The 23 year old Iraqi midfielder Alaa Abdul-Zahra was playing in Iran with Tractor Sazi Club in 2014 when he tested positive for a prohibited drug Methylhexanamine, an energy boosting drug that has been banned by many sport authorities and governmental agencies.
The Iraqi player underwent both an A and B test as stipulated by FIFA and both tests came back with a positive reading. By the time the second test came back Abdul-Zahra was playing for Al-Shorta, so the results were passed to FIFA’s medical group to be pursued through the Iraqi Football Federation.
As a result of these tests, the Iraqi midfielder should have received a suspension of at least 6 months up to 2 years consequently ruling him out for the 2015 AFC Asian cup.
A letter was apparently sent to FIFA prior to the Iran-Iraq match, but Zahra played in the quarterfinal anyway.
Under strict FIFA guidelines the national football association of each country is responsible for ensuring that all their players are eligible and in this instance Iraq could lose all competition points and be withdrawn from the semi-final stage of the competition.
All the documentation has been shared with AFC’s medical group and they will be asking the Iraqi Football Federation about this within the next 48 hours.
Following the lawsuit filed against the Iraq team, Iranian side has delayed its exit from Australia, due to an AFC request, awaiting a response from the world governing body, which is expected today.
If approved, Iran would be announced as the winner of the game 3-0 and progress to the next round against South Korea instead of Iraq.
By Paul Brown
paul@burwoodscene.com.auFollow Paul on Twitter @Brown9Paul
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