Merkel opposes banning Iran team

GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel said she opposed banning Iran from the soccer World Cup because of controversial remarks by Iran’s president, saying it would be wrong to punish the players for his words.

Responding to demands to ban Iran because its President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had said Israel should be moved to Europe and suggested the Holocaust might never have happened, Merkel told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper she doubted the value of a ban.

“I’m sceptical about demands for a ban. One would have to reconsider if the World Cup were held in Iran.