Hussein Amir-Abdollahian: Iran and Saudi Arabia Agree to Change the Match Time for Al-Ittihad and Sepahan

On Wednesday, October 4, the Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic announced that an agreement had been reached with Saudi Arabia to change the match time for the football teams Al-Ittihad and Sepahan in the Asian Champions League. Hussein Amir-Abdollahian also urged the Asian Football Confederation to examine this incident solely from a 'technical' perspective and not allow sports to be used as a political lever by either side. He emphasized that relations with Saudi Arabia are progressing in the right direction and that he had been in direct communication with his Saudi counterpart on the evening of October 2. These remarks came amid concerns that the Saudi team's refusal to enter the playing field could negatively impact the improving relations between the two long-standing rivals, the Islamic Republic and Saudi Arabia. The Al-Ittihad team was scheduled to face Sepahan in Isfahan on October 2 in front of approximately 60,000 spectators but refused to enter the field. The Saudi state television 'Al-Ikhbariya' reported that the reason for this refusal was the installation of a statue of Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, outside the stadium's entrance tunnel. Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Iraq on January 3, 2020, is regarded as a war hero by the Iranian government but has faced severe criticism from several Western and Arab countries for his role in leading military activities of the Islamic Republic throughout the region. Hours after the team's refusal to play, Al-Ittihad announced in a statement that they had left the stadium and flown home because league organizers had declared that the match would not take place as scheduled. The Saudi Football Federation also issued a statement expressing its support for Al-Ittihad. At the same time, Mohammad Reza Saket, the chairman of the Sepahan football team, told Iranian state television that Al-Ittihad had made 'unusual demands' but did not provide further details. The Asian Football Confederation also announced that the match was canceled 'due to unforeseen circumstances.' None of these statements mentioned the statue of Qasem Soleimani, which is one of three statues installed around the stadium. 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 locations. However, when Riyadh and Tehran resumed diplomatic relations earlier this year with China's mediation, it was announced that Iranian and Saudi teams would henceforth play their matches in their own grounds. The resumption of diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia has raised hopes for an end to the devastating war between the Saudi-led regional coalition and the Iranian-aligned Houthi rebels in Yemen. However, the ceasefire has been overshadowed by the killing of four Bahraini soldiers allied with Saudi Arabia at the southern border of Saudi Arabia by the Houthis. In the ongoing fallout from the canceled match, Amir-Abdollahian claimed: 'We must not allow sports to become a political lever.' The ongoing controversies surrounding the canceled match included the nighttime installation of banners in Tehran; the Saudi Football Federation stating that it would pursue the rights of Al-Ittihad; the cancellation of the Sepahan and Al-Ittihad match due to 'the presence of the Soleimani statue'; the Asian Football Confederation stating it was 'unforeseen circumstances'; and the U.S. Department of Defense condemning the deadly Houthi attack on the Saudi border.