The Transfer Of The Asian Champions League Match To The UAE Which Made The Iranian President Furious

Jake (@jake_jake)

JAKARTA - The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) moved the Asian Champions League home matches of two Iranian clubs abroad for security reasons. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, through a spokesman, condemned the decision.

"This decision is unsportsmanlike and unprofessional," said a spokesman for President Rouhani through the IRNA News Agency as quoted by Al Jazeera, Thursday, January 23.

The decision made by the AFC is related to rising tensions between the United States (US) and Iran following the assassination of a top Iranian general in Baghdad earlier this month.

In addition, the AFC said via Twitter on Wednesday, the transfer was also due to a number of countries having issued travel warnings for visits to Iran.

AFC Statement! # ACL2020 pic.twitter.com/cGa9ETIDIT

- # ACL2020 (@TheAFCCL) January 22, 2020

The match originally scheduled for Tuesday, said the AFC, will be moved to Saturday to the United Arab Emirates.

Previously, the four Iranian clubs who competed in the Asian Champions League, namely Persepolis, Sepahan, Esteghlal, and Shahr Khodro also emphasized that they only wanted to appear if they could still play their home matches in Iran.

The four Iranian participating clubs in AFC Champions League will lodge a complaint with Court of Arbitration for Sport against the Asian Football Confederation over its decision to ban Iranian teams from hosting their Asian rivals in Iran.#Iran@theafcdotcom pic.twitter.com/0GSGwPskDY

- Iran (@Iran) January 21, 2020

Iran's Youth and Sports Minister Masoud Soltanifar told reporters the move was entirely political and unsportsmanlike. Because, taken based on reasons that are not true, namely the lack of security and safety of air routes to Iran.

The AFC move has also sparked outrage in Iran. A young football fan in Tehran, Hojat Vafaee, described the decision as "a purely political decision taken under pressure from several Arab countries".

Hojat called on FIFA, world football's governing body, to intervene and defend Iran's rights. He said Gianni Infantino was in Tehran last year and the FIFA President saw how spectacular and safe the atmosphere of the stadium in Tehran was.