Al Ittihad could be punished for their Asian Champions League walkout against Iran’s Sepahan, a reporter has claimed.
The Saudi side, managed by Nuno Espirito Santo and featuring star players N'Golo Kante and Fabinho, refused to leave their dressing room due to their opposition to a statue of an assassinated Iranian general being placed at the entrance to the pitch.
Some 60,000 fans were in Iran’s Naghsh-e Jahn Stadium at the time awaiting kick-off.
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The Asian Football Confederation said the game had been "cancelled due to unanticipated and unforeseen circumstances".
The body said in a statement: "The AFC reiterates its commitment towards ensuring the safety and security of the players, match officials, spectators, and all stakeholders involved.
"This matter will now be referred to the relevant committees."
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The statue was of Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in January 2020 near Baghdad airport in a United States drone strike. In 2018 Saudi Arabia classified Soleimani and other senior commanders of the Quds Force, an overseas operations arm of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, as terrorists.
According to Tasmin Sport journalist Hatam Shiralizadeh, Al Ittihad could be punished for refusing to play Monday night’s encounter.
Shiralizadeh claimed that the Saudi Pro League side trained on the Naghsh-e Jahn Stadium pitch the day before the Asian Champions League match, despite the Soleymani statue being present. You can watch the footage below.
Writing on X, the social media platform formally known as Twitter, Shiralizadeh said: “It seems that Al-Ittihad will be punished by the AFC because they trained without any problem in Naghshe-Jahan stadium last day while Ghasem Soleymani statue was there.”
Saudi Arabia hold Soleimani responsible for Iran's regional activities and has accused him of attacks on Saudi oil installations, Gulf shipping and of support for Houthi rebels in Yemen, who have attacked Saudi cities. Iran has denied all of the above.
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This season has seen the return of Saudi clubs to Iran for the first time since 2016, when the Basij, a group of Iranian militiamen part of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, attacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran.
After that incident teams from Saudi Arabia refused to travel to Iran for any international sports competition, claiming their security was not guaranteed.
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Featured Image Credit: Tasnim SportTopics: Football, Saudi Arabia, Saudi Pro League