Sydney: Iraq made last-ditch diplomatic attempts on Wednesday to persuade FIFA to lift its international ban and allow the national team's World Cup qualifier against Australia to go ahead on Sunday.
The Iraqi government told world football's governing body it had not disbanded the national football federation, a move which would have breached FIFA rules aimed at preventing governmental interference in the sport.
A FIFA spokesman confirmed the association had received official notice from Baghdad on Wednesday, just over 24 hours before the deadline to lift their suspension was due to expire.
"We have received a correspondence from the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers of Iraq," the spokesman said.
"At the moment we are analysing the correspondence. It is too early to speculate on what will happen."
But Fawzi Akram, a member of the Iraqi parliament's Sport and Youth committee, said he was confident the suspension would be lifted and Sunday's match would proceed.
"FIFA asked the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers to confirm in a letter that the Iraqi football Federation is not included in the suspension," he said, reading a statement.
"Since all the sports federations are not included in the original (decision) issued by the Council of Ministers, the Council of Ministers wrote FIFA a letter showing this and, in the wake of that, FIFA has decided that the Iraqi team's match against Australia may go ahead."
The match has been in doubt since FIFA slapped a temporary suspension on the Iraqi football team on Monday and threatened to extend the ban to one year after the government announced last week they were disbanding their National Olympic Committee.
Sepp Blatter, president of FIFA, said by dissolving the national Olympic committee, Iraq had automatically dissolved all sports federations, including football.
Blatter said Iraq's actions breached FIFA regulations outlawing political interference.
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Door open
The executive board left the door open for Iraq to earn a reprieve by giving the government until late on Thursday to reverse its decision or face a 12-month ban from international football.
A decision on the ban was due to be put to the FIFA Congress, which meets in Sydney on Friday and requires a 75 percent vote to succeed. Asian Football Confederation (AFC) President Mohamed Bin Hammam said it was paramount that governments be stopped from interfering in sport.
"I'm 100 per cent behind the (FIFA) decision," he said. "I'm also the architect behind this. I don't hesitate to attack any political decision or interference in football. If FIFA and the confederation does not take a stand against this sort of act there will be a day when neither FIFA or national associations will have any sports individuals representing national associations."
Iraq coach Adnan Hamad said in Brisbane, where the team was training ahead of Sunday's qualifier, that the uncertainty over the match had taken a toll on his players.
"Of course it has affected them mentally, there has been a lot of talk out there and we will try to get the players focussed on the game," he said.
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