Iran accuses UK of plotting World Cup walkout

LONDON: Tehran’s sports minister has accused the UK of plotting to organize the mass defection of Iran’s football team during the FIFA World Cup in November last year.

Hamid Sajjadi, Iranian minister of sport and youth, told the country’s Parliament that Britain had attempted the “height of sedition” in planning for Iran’s football stars to abandon matches during the group stage.

Iranian authorities successfully foiled the plot, he claimed.