Carlos Queiroz slams Nike for ‘ridiculous and unnecessary’ World Cup boots issue
Iran boss has hit out after the sports company said they would not be supplying the country with boots due to US sanctions
IRAN coach Carlos Queiroz has called on Nike to apologise to his team after the US sportswear firm said it could not supply the players with football boots for the World Cup due to sanctions.
Nike said in a statement: "US sanctions mean that, as a US company, Nike cannot supply shoes to players in the Iranian National team at this time."
Queiroz, whose side face Morocco in their Group B opener on Friday, said it was an unnecessary statement and asked Fifa to help.
Speaking to , Queiroz said: "It has been a source of inspiration for us.
"This last comment of Nike was, in my personal view, an unnecessary statement. Everybody is aware about the sanctions.
"It was ridiculous and unnecessary to produce this statement against a couple of young players.
"I think it should be the exact opposite because 99 per cent of our boys, they buy the boots, so the statement should be in the opposite direction and they should thank them.
"They should come out and apologise because this arrogant conduct against 23 boys is absolutely ridiculous and unnecessary.
"We have addressed this concern to Fifa and the minimum Nike should do is to apologise to them (Iran's players).
"We expect that Fifa will come with a position and if they don't we will publish the letter we sent to Fifa."
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Iran’s Road To Russia
QUALIFYING RESULTS:
Second Round
16/06/15 Turkmenistan A 1-1
03/09/15 Guam H 6-0
08/09/15 India A 3-0
08/10/15 Oman A 1-1
12/11/15 Turkmenistan H 3-1
17/11/15 Guam A 6-0
24/03/16 India H 4-0
29/03/16 Oman H 2-0
Third Round
01/09/16 Qatar H 2-0
06/09/16 China PR A 0-0
06/10/16 Uzbekistan A 1-0
11/10/16 Korea Republic H 1-0
15/11/16 Syria A 0-0
23/03/17 Qatar A 1-0
28/03/17 China PR H 1-0
12/06/17 Uzbekistan H 2-0
31/08/17 Korea Republic A 0-0
05/09/17 Syria H 2-2
TOP SCORERS:
11 Sardar Azmoun
8 Mehdi Taremi
2 Jalal Hosseini
MOST APPEARANCES:
17 Vajed Amiri
16 Mehdi Taremi
14 Ramin Rezaeian
Nike made the decision due to global economic sanctions against the Asian country caused by Donald Trump administration's decision to withdraw from the international nuclear deal made in 2015 and to intensify the restrictions against Iran.
Desperate not to be caught out, Iran’s stars have already begun taking it upon themselves to find a solution.
ESPN state they have asked non-Iranian players to loan them a pair of boots, while others have headed straight to the shops to purchase their own.
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