The story appears on

Page A16

January 23, 2020

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

HomeSportsSoccer

AFC holds firm in face of Iran鈥檚 ACL boycott threat

Despite threats of an Iranian boycott of its flagship club competition, the Asian Football Confederation has confirmed that AFC Champions League matches involving Shahr Khodro and Esteghlal have been moved to neutral venues because of security concerns.

The AFC released a statement yesterday saying it had moved two qualification ties involving Iranian clubs 鈥 Shahr Khodro FC vs Bahrain鈥檚 Riffa and Esteghlal vs Kuwait SC 鈥 to neutral venues 鈥渂ecause of ongoing security concerns and the decision of several governments to issue travel warnings to the Islamic Republic of Iran.鈥 The rescheduled matches will be played on Saturday in the United Arab Emirates. The AFC鈥檚 decision to move the matches comes days after the Iranian Football Federation threatened to boycott the 2020 ACL if it is barred from hosting international matches. The IFF鈥檚 president Heidar Baharvand told state television that if the ban was not reversed, Iran would withdraw its four teams 鈥 Persepolis, Esteghlal, Sepahan and Shahr Khodr 鈥 from the tournament.


 

Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

娌叕缃戝畨澶 31010602000204鍙

Email this to your friend