Shut up about politics: Iran coach

AFP - Iran coach Branko Ivankovic said he had no message from the country's controversial president and told journalists to stop asking him about politics.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's outspoken views on the Holocaust have come into sharp focus ahead of Iran's opening match in the former Nazi stronghold of Nuremberg.

"The president of Iran is a football fan and of course he is interested in what their team will do during the World Cup, just as many presidents. I don't have any special message from him," Ivankovic told a press conference.

"These political questions are not for me. I think it's not for me and it's not for people here. Please just ask about my team against Mexico," he added.

Jewish groups have called for protests against Iran's Vice President Mohammad Aliabadi, who will attend the game just a stone's throw from where Hitler staged his infamous rallies.

Far-right activists are also planning to demonstrate in support of Iran during their matches here.

President Ahmadinejad has been widely condemned for describing the Holocaust as a "myth" and calling for Israel to be "wiped off the map".

Earlier, a group of European Union politicians had called for Iran to be kicked out of the World Cup altogether over its government's nuclear programme.