Iran teams will not travel to ‘hostile’ countries; Tractor FC asks for venue change for ACL Elite tie
March 27 – Iran has banned its sports teams from traveling to countries considered to be “hostile,” Iranian state TV reported on Thursday ahead of Tractor FC’s Champions League fixture in Saudi Arabia in April.
“The presence of national and club teams in countries that are considered hostile and are unable to ensure the security of Iranian athletes and team members is prohibited until further notice,” a statement said.
The ban comes nearly a month after the United States and Israel’s attacks on the country which have plunged the entire region into crisis, but didn’t mention the World Cup which kicks off this summer in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Instead, it focused on Tractor’s Asian Champions league playoff against the UAE’s Shabab Al Alhi, slated to be played in Saudi Arabia. Earlier this week, the Asian Football Confederation rescheduled the western zone Last 16 playoffs for April 13-14 in Jeddah, the host city for centralised final rounds from the quarter finals onwards that will start April 16.
Tractor have requested to the AFC that the match is moved to another venue but is not pulling out of the competition.
The Iranian ministry said that the country’s FA and clubs “will be responsible for notifying the Asian Football Confederation of this matter in order to relocate the games. The statement didn’t provide an exhaustive list of countries deemed hostile.
The other clubs involved in the Last 16 West region play-offs – from the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia – have all agreed to play, and have the backing of their national FAs to do so.
The logistics of moving the game look difficult and while an AFC insider said that the confederation is working to keep politics out of sport, finding another country prepared to host the game is difficult.
Even if a country could be found to host the game and give the security guarantees for both teams, there is still the issue of Tractor potentially winning the play-off but then not taking their place in the centralised final rounds in Saudi Arabia.
This summer, Iran is scheduled to compete in the World Cup and is reportedly negotiating with FIFA to move its group-stage matches from the US to Mexico where the government has said it can host their games. FIFA president Gianni Infantino said that the global governing body expects the tournament “to go ahead as scheduled.”
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