AFC's Silence After Iranian Official's Claim About Cancelled Sepahan and Al-Ittihad Match

In the past day, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has not reacted to the cancelled match between Iran's Sepahan and Saudi Arabia's Al-Ittihad. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian previously claimed that he reached an agreement with his Saudi counterpart to resolve the 'cancellation crisis'. Meanwhile, the Saudi team stated they left the stadium at the request of the AFC. It was earlier reported that the insistence of Iranian officials to keep a statue of Qassem Soleimani led to the match's cancellation, which should be awarded to Al-Ittihad. The Saudi team, which was supposed to face Sepahan on Monday, October 2, in the AFC Champions League in front of about 60,000 spectators in Isfahan, refused to enter the field. Saudi state television 'Al-Ikhbariya' reported that the reason for this refusal was the installation of a statue of Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, outside the stadium's entrance tunnel. Iranian spectators chanted 'We don't want football with politics' after this incident. Iranian and Saudi officials had previously faced issues over a picture of Qassem Soleimani at a press conference in Tehran, which led to a change in the conference location due to the Saudi side's anger. The Islamic Republic and Saudi Arabia had significantly reduced their relations since a group of hardline Basijis supportive of Khamenei attacked the Saudi embassy and consulate in Tehran and Mashhad, but in recent months, with China's mediation, the two countries have attempted to normalize relations to the extent of sending ambassadors. The AFC's silence comes as this body adheres to FIFA protocols and regulations in international competitions and, according to diplomatic consultation rules, has no role in deciding or issuing a ruling on the outcome of this match. Iranian officials have mentioned the possibility of replaying this match, but some Arab media claim that Al-Ittihad should be declared the winner by 3-0. After the severance of diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia in 2016, matches between the teams of the two countries were held in neutral venues. However, when Riyadh and Tehran resumed diplomatic relations earlier this year with China's mediation, it was announced that Iranian and Saudi teams would now play their matches on their home grounds. Mehdi Rostampour stated that Sepahan was informed a day prior that they must remove the statue of Qassem Soleimani. Amir-Abdollahian claimed that Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to change the time of the Al-Ittihad and Sepahan match. He further stated that we should not allow sports to become a political lever. The Saudi Football Federation announced they would seek the rights of the 'Al-Ittihad' club.