![]() ![]() Instead of simply ratifying that decision, you seemed to have ignored that letter. This is a clear violation of your own ruling and against the spirit of Fair Play.įollowing Qatar’s acceptance of staging home matches of the two affected Iranian clubs, the Iranian football federation communicated that decision to you on 30th January. However, there seems to be one rule for the Saudi clubs and another for Iranian clubs in this upcoming AFC Champions League season. At no point in the last two seasons, did you force one side to play at any given location. However, we have read reports with horror that the Asian Football Confederation has made a unilateral decision on behalf of our two clubs, Tractor Sazi Tabriz and Esteghlal Tehran, forcing them to play their “home” matches in Muscat, Oman, in contrast to the AFC allowing Saudi Arabian clubs to “choose” their desired home venues in Kuwait and UAE for the return matches of the same fixtures.īoth Saudi and Iranian clubs nominated their home venues in the last two seasons as per the ruling of March 2016 when AFC decided that matches involving Iranian and Saudi clubs would be played on neutral territory.Ĭonsequently, the Asian Football Confederation asked both sides of the dispute to nominate their desired home venues. Qatar FA responded promptly accepting to host the two games on 12th and 20th February. With no response from Oman and the ensuing deadline to nominate our hosts, the Iranian Football Federation turned to Qatar Football Association seeking their assistance. Kyrgyzstan declined due to winter conditions in February and Turkmenistan’s artificial pitch was not acceptable to their coaching staff. So far as we understand, Uzbekistan did not respond to Esteghlal’s request. ![]() Having followed that initial request on 24th January, Oman FA never responded to Iran’s request.Įsteghlal, on the other hand, chose to look for an alternative venue amongst Central Asian countries. It is our understanding that our football federation had first contacted Oman Football Association on 11th January for Tractor Sazi’s home match against Saudi Arabia’s Al Ahli to be played on 12th February. With that in mind, it was understandable that our clubs looked for alternative venues to reduce their financial losses and having more of a “home advantage” so far as spectator support was concerned for the 2018 season. We read with huge disappointment that our clubs would have to play host to Saudi clubs at neutral venues yet again.ĭuring the last two seasons, Saudi clubs nominated Qatar and the UAE as their home venue, while our clubs chose to play in Muscat, Oman, with devastating financial impact for our clubs.ĭue to strict visa regulations, our fans were unable to travel to Muscat either, with the exception of a few hundred local residents fans of Iranian descent, Saudi clubs played before thousands of their own fans making a mockery of a “home advantage” for our clubs. However, for reason unknown to us, the AFC Executive Committee did not even entertain reviewing its decision of two years ago. We were hoping that our clubs could play host to their Saudi counterparts in this season of the AFC Champions League. We believe there should be an annual review of the AFC Executive Committee’s decision of March 2016 as changes in circumstances should be taken into consideration from one year to another. This is following the rise of political tension between Iran and Saudi Arabia in January 2016. “We are writing to express our disbelief with the latest development surrounding the status of the Asian Champions League matches concerning home-and-away matches between Iranian and Saudi clubs for the current 2018 season.įor the third consecutive season, matches between Iranian and Saudi clubs will have to be played on neutral venues. The Iranian journalists in a letter asked Dato' Windsor John, the AFC General Secretary, to consider spirit of Fair Play. TEHRAN - Members of the Iranian Veteran Sports Journalists Association have asked Asian Football Confederation (AFC) officials to stay neutral between Iranian and Saudi Arabian clubs.
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