Iran, Zimbabwe friendly banned

FIFA has banned the Iran national football team from playing a friendly against Zimbabwe, an official with Iran Football Federation Omid Jamali confirmed.

Zimbabwe had agreed to travel to Tehran for the game which was scheduled for this week's FIFA international window on Tuesday.

However, based on FIFA rules, the teams have to rest at least three days between any two games in two different continents and duration of their flights have to be no more than five hours, Jamali said.

"After preliminary talks for a friendly game between Iran and Zimbabwe, we sent the required forms to FIFA, seeking their permission when we were told that Zimbabwe had earlier registered another friendly game in Morocco with the country's national team."

Jamali said that Zimbabwe's game against Morocco is scheduled for November 16 and based on FIFA rules it cannot play another friendly against Iran on November 12.

Iran had initially planned a friendly against Kenya on Thursday but the east African country is said to have demanded $50,000 in cash and travel costs associated with the trip to Tehran.

Coached by former Real Madrid and Portugal head coach Carlos Quieroz, the Iran team is preparing itself for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup.