Iran’s football federation (FFIRI) said that its ticket allocation for the World Cup has been pulled just days before football’s global showpiece kicks off, leaving supporters who had already made travel plans unable to attend their team’s matches, Reuters reports.

“This is despite the fact that many Iranian football fans, relying on the officially announced process, had already made the necessary plans to attend the matches,” the FFIRI added in a statement.

The Football Federation announced that the 8 per cent quota of tickets allocated to Iran has been revoked by the United States, and currently, there is no possibility to distribute tickets to fans through the Federation, according to Tasnim.