Iran’s treatment at the World Cup in North America is a “dark point” in the history of the competition, a leading Iranian football official says, according to AFP.

Hedayat Mombeyni, the secretary general of the Iranian football federation, was speaking to reporters the day after his organisation said it would lodge a complaint with FIFA, claiming the team was being subjected to travel restrictions that were jeopardising its performance.

“This is a major international tournament. This sort of breaking of our rules and our agreements, in my opinion, calls football itself into question,” Mombeyni told reporters at the team’s training base in Tijuana, Mexico.

“I believe this will mark a dark point in the World Cup’s recent history,” Mombeyni added.