The match between Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ittihad and its Iranian host Sepahan, Monday, in the group stage of the AFC Champions League, was canceled “due to unforeseen circumstances,” according to what the Continental Confederation announced in a statement.
Unofficial sources indicate that the cancellation came due to the presence of a bust of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, who was killed by the Americans in Iraq in 2020, inside the stadium where the match was being held.
Iranian ISNA news agency quoted Sepahan Club as saying that the match was canceled after a decision by the referee.
The AFC said on its official website, “The match in the 2023-2024 AFC Champions League in Group C, which was scheduled to bring together Iran’s Sepahan and Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ittihad at Naqsh-e Jahan Stadium in Isfahan on Monday evening, has been cancelled, due to unforeseen circumstances.”
what happened?
Videos spread on social media show thousands of Iranian fans angry because of the cancellation of the match, chanting slogans against the presence of Soleimani’s statue in the stadium.
The fans also chanted slogans demanding that politics be kept out of football.
The number of fans who came to watch the Al-Ittihad and Sepahan game, in which international star Karim Benzema is supposed to participate, was estimated at tens of thousands.
The Saudi Al-Ekhbariya channel confirmed that Al-Ittihad Club left the stadium in protest against the statue placed on the field, and that the observer and the match’s referees crew asked the Iranian officials to remove the statues and banners, but Sepahan officials refused, and that the AFC observer recorded all the violations that led to the cancellation of the match. It will be presented to the Disciplinary Committee to take the necessary measures.
What actions are expected?
Both FIFA and UEFA take a strict stance when it comes to political statements in football with FIFA repeatedly stating that football should never be used for political messages and that the focus should be on the game itself and nothing else.
According to the location Law in Sport FIFA’s position on political messages can be summarized in Law 4 of the Laws of the Game:
“Equipment must not contain any political, religious or personal logos, statements or images.”
What appears from the text here is that Iran may have violated the rules of the game by placing the Soleimani statue in the stadium.
The law continues, “Players must not expose underwear that displays political, religious or personal logos, statements, images, or advertising other than the manufacturer’s logo.”
Also, “a player’s team whose basic mandatory equipment contains political, religious or personal slogans, statements or images will be penalized by the competition organizer or by FIFA.”
Also, “any player/team revealing underwear that displays logos, statements, political, religious or personal images or advertisements other than the manufacturer’s logo will be punished by the competition organizer or by FIFA.”
History of sanctions
In 2021 it was published Viva A list of sanctions for countries that “used matches to convey a message inappropriate for the sport or event.”
Most of these penalties relate to inappropriate public behavior or political or social messages they conveyed.
These penalties fall within the “Order and Security” section of the Sports Law, and fines amount to tens of thousands of dollars.
Among the countries subject to sanctions in 2021 are Hungary, Armenia, Chile, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Georgia, Romania, Armenia, Russia, Scotland and Serbia.
In Ireland, the national team was subjected to sanctions when it raised the slogan of the centenary of the Irish Easter Uprising.
Barcelona was fined 150,000 euros after fans raised the Estelada flag during a Champions League match, which is an unofficial flag, usually raised by separatists in support of independence from Spain.
In September 2016, Scottish club Celtic was fined €10,000 after a section of fans displayed Palestinian flags during a Champions League match against Israeli team Hapoel.
This season, the Continental Confederation decided to hold matches between Saudi and Iranian clubs in the AFC Champions League in a home-and-away system in the two countries, after holding them on neutral soil since 2016 due to the diplomatic crisis between the two countries.
The matches between the teams of the Saudi and Iranian federations, whether at the national or club level, were held on neutral grounds in the neighboring Gulf countries, according to the decision of the Executive Office of the AFC in 2016.
Riyadh severed its relations with Tehran in 2016 following an attack launched by Iranian demonstrators on both its embassy in Tehran and its consulate in Mashhad, in protest against Riyadh’s execution of the prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.
But the two countries agreed to resume diplomatic relations and reopen their embassies after a rupture that ended with a sudden agreement reached with Chinese mediation on March 10. Relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia developed when the Islamic Republic opened its embassy in Saudi Arabia on June 6.
2023-10-02 22:30:36
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