Uhlsport hits back over shoddy Iran football kit row

The German kit supplier to Iran's World Cup squad hit backWednesday over allegations that it has provided shoddy gear, including shrinkingsocks and shirts, to the players.Uhlsport, in a statement sent to AFP in Tehran, said it was "shocked and shaken" byclaims that it supplied second-rate outfits to the Iranian side ahead of thetournament in Brazil."The claim that players have not received sufficient soccer jerseys for thetournament is wrong and absurd," the company said."We have used the same standards for Iran as we use for every other association orclub that we work with."Iran team coach Carlos Queiroz criticised Uhlsport on Sunday, saying the shirts hisplayers used in qualifying games in Qatar and South Korea were "not proper" forhumid conditions.   "This could have put Iran out of the World Cup," he said of the strips, before goingon to lambast the Iran Football Federation for failing to provide proper boots orensure enough clothing."If you have one tracksuit per player, morning and afternoon, it cannot be good,"added Queiroz, former boss of Real Madrid and the Portuguese and South Africannational sides as well as a former assistant coach at Manchester United.Several Iran players backed the manager's claims, telling reporters that their socksand shirts shrank when washed.The furore comes less than a month before kick-off in Brazil, where Iran are drawnin Group F, along with Argentina, Bosnia Hercegovina and Nigeria.On Monday, Mahmoud Piri, a representative for Dubai-based Romario Sports, whichdistributes the Uhlsport gear to Iran, denied there was a quality issue and allegedthat a personal dispute with Queiroz over money was the source of the row.The Iran boss denied the claim.However, in what appeared to be a veiled reference, Uhlsport appeared to renew thefinancial allegations and said some players had "imprudently" allowed themselvesto be "misused"."Other forces hoped to gain direct personal advantages from our partnership withthe federation," the company said.The Iran squad is currently at a training camp in Austria but the row overshadowedtheir departure on Monday and the dispute has now reached the political arena.Mohammad Nahavandian, President Hassan Rouhani's chief of staff, was quoted byISNA news agency Wednesday as calling for unity and for differences to be settled.  "Everyone should support the national team and we should try to solve its problemsas soon as possible," Nahavandian said, noting that the situation would be followed"diligently"."Until the time that the team travels to Brazil, the officials at Youth and SportsMinistry and the football federation will brief the government in this regard on aweekly basis," he added.Iran's opening game is against Nigeria on June 16. Source: AFP