Iran Clubs Threaten To Withdraw From AFC Champions League 2020

Four teams playing in the Persian Gulf Pro League officially threatened that they will leave the 2020 edition of the AFC Champions League because they were not allowed to host home matches in Iran.

It was the AFC (Asian Football Confederation) that informed the FFIRI (Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran) that Iranian clubs cannot hose matches played in the AFC Champions League because of the security concerns that appeared.

Both the four companies that are set to participate in the AFC Champions League from Iran and the Iranian Football Federation quickly responded and took a stand against the decision made by the AFC. At the same time, news agencies from around the world broke the news, leading to betting odds on Betting24.se for Iran teams of winning the competition being drastically increased.

On Twitter, Ali Arouzi declared that “officials here angered” and that the result of the AFC decision is that “all Iranian teams have pulled out of the AFC Champions League.”

Heydar Baharvand, acting FFIRI President, declared that a letter was sent to the AFC. In the letter, it was acknowledged that in the event that the country is banned from hosting home matches, all the teams will withdraw. He went on to add that the four clubs from Iran decided the decision is unfair and will fight against it. The Federation opted to support the teams and their decisions.

The 4 football clubs that are affected are Esteghal FC, Shahr Khodro FC, Sepahan SC, and Perspeolis FC.

Sepahan and Persepolis are scheduled to start the campaign straight in the ACL group stages. At the same time, Esteghal and Shahr Khodro need to start playing during the competition’s Preliminary Round 2. Esteghal is scheduled to meet Kuwait SC and Shahr Khodro should play against Riffa SC.

Baharvand added that most Iranian people are now completely dissatisfied with the decision of the AFC, stating that this is “an insult to our nation”. He declared that it is the team’s rights to host the matches and this right will be strongly defended.

The support for the 4 Iran teams is very high at the moment. Both people in the country and officials decided to support the decision. It was stated that the teams are not going to budge and that they will instantly withdraw from the AFC Champions League. It was also added that Iran is safe as a country and that the political turmoil will not have an impact on the games. At

the same time, the highest Asia attendance is in Iran for the sport of football.

At the end of the day, the decision made by the AFC stands out as one that seems to be biased. However, we do not know if the AFC will reverse the decision. It is possible that the competition will not have teams from Iran this year.