The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has reportedly banned Iran from hosting Champions League football matches.
A series of reports have suggested the AFC sent a letter to the Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran (FFIRI) telling them that they would not be hosting AFC Champions League matches for the foreseeable future.
Instead, any match featuring an Iranian team would be played in a different country.
AFC has already hailed the Iranian fans for attending the football matches in their stadiums. Indeed, banning the teams from hosting will harm the AFC’s credibility.
Last year, Yemen’s Houthi movement launched an attack on Abha in southern Saudi Arabia. Yemen’s drone also attacked Dubai International Airport. However, the AFC officials never decided to ban the two Arabian countries from the hosting the ACL matches.
Asian Football Confederation should not set up a double standard since it will be accused of being bias.
In a meeting held on Saturday in the presence of the Iranian Sports Ministry and the presidents of the four football clubs – Persepolis, Sepahan, Shahr Khodro and Esteghlal in Iran Football Federation’s headquarters, the decision was made by them to withdraw from the competition if the confederation wants them to play in neutral venue.