Iraq made last-ditch diplomatic attempts yesterday 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 soccer'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 yesterday, just over 24 hours before the deadline to lift its 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 analyzing 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 Soccer 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."

Sepp Blatter, president of FIFA, said by dissolving the national Olympic committee, Iraq had automatically dissolved all sports federations, including soccer.

Blatter said Iraq's actions breached FIFA regulations outlawing political interference.

Iraq coach Adnan Hamad said in Brisbane, where the team is training, 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.

Meanwhile, Asian football chief Mohamed Bin Hammam said Asia has a genuine chance of beating any European bid to host the 2018 World Cup.

Australia and China plan to submit bids and Qatar may also join the race but they face a tough challenge from European countries including Russia, England, Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium.

The US was also reportedly considering a bid to stage the tournament.

But Bin Hammam said he believed Asia, which hosted the World Cup in 2002 in Japan and South Korea jointly, had equal claims.

"Of course Asia has a great chance," he said. "Nothing is automatic, there's no rotation system anymore. It could go anywhere," he said.

"I think we need to bring the World Cup to Asia in 2018."

Bin Hammam said Asia's best chance of winning the event was if the whole region joined forces to support a single bid but he would still encourage multiple bidders.

"I would like as many countries as possible to submit bids," he said. "Then they can let the Asian countries decide for themselves if they're going to be behind one bid."

(Agencies via Shanghai Daily May 29, 2008)