Charlton deny calling off Iran match over politics

Iranian media said on Monday that a complaint would be lodged to world governing body FIFA after Charlton pulled out of the match due to be played in Spain this week.

“We are going to lodge an official complaint to FIFA over Charlton’s behaviour,” Tehran Times daily quoted Iranian Football Federation vice-president Mehdi Taj as saying.

“(World) football officials have emphasised that politics should be kept away from sports, so we ask why the English disregarded FIFA’s motto,” Taj said.

Championship (second division) side Charlton arrived in Spain on Monday for a pre-season training camp where they hoped to play two private warm-up matches.

However, a club spokesman said that despite discussions with the Iranians, there had been no agreement on a match.

“There was never a friendly arranged so to say it had been called off would be incorrect,” the spokesman said.

“We had discussions but they were never concluded. We decided not to play Iran, it was a club decision and certainly nothing to do with politics.”

Iran drew criticism last week from the European Union, the United States and Israel after it announced that it had conducted missile tests.