The Saudi applied political pressures on the Asian Football Confederation has paid off as the AFC announced that the matches between Iranian and Saudi clubs would be played on neutral grounds in contradiction of the AFC competition rules and in a clear violation of the World Football ruling body’s mandates and obligation to distant politics from sport.
Iran and Saudi Arabia are embroiled in political differences as the latter broke diplomatic relation and encouraged some of its followers to do so. The Saudi’s have already declared that they will not recognize any AFC ruling except for playing the AFC Champions League matches against Iranian teams on neutral ground. The Head of the Saudi FA threatened to withdraw from the competition if their demands are not met.
The Iranians have strongly objected to the ruling however FFIRI stand is far from clear. It is not known if a protest letter was sent by FFIRI to the AFC yet.
According to ISNA, the Asian Football Confederation final ruling on the dispute between Iran and Saudi Arabia has clearly favored the Arabs while other news agencies carry statements from Several Iranian politicians and sport personalities denouncing the bias and unlawful announcement by the AFC which is headed by an Arab President in Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim from Bahrain favoring another Arab country.
The wrath of the Iranians was not targeted at the AFC only but also at the feeble head of the FFIRI whose weakness is said to be the catalyst for the decision by the AFC. There has been several calls to question and sack Kaffashian because of this AFC decision.
DIPLOMATIC VIEWPOINT
Calmer voices however, dealt differently with the situation in hand and encouraged the decision makers to use legal channels.
Amongst the voices of reason was Mr. Jafar Hashemi , a career diplomat who spoke to ISNA regarding the situation .
One of the major issues that were mentioned by Mr. Hashemi is the fact that AFC does not have the proper mechanism nor the capabilities to determine the safety and security of a country. The Saudis claim that it is not safe to play in Iran. Mr. Hashemi says that “if hypothetically a country is not safe for playing competition sport, then it has to be proven by diplomatic channels and after due diligence from bodies such as the United Nation. The fact is Iran is one of the safest countries in the region and already teams from Uzbekistan, Qatar and UAE have played in the same competition without any security or safety disturbances.”
IRAN IS A SAFE COUNTRY
“The AFC itself recognized Iran as a safe country to the extent that it ratified the hosting of Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan national teams who play their home games in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers in Iran recognizing the high level of safety and security. Because of this very reason, Iran should not accept the ruling by AFC which is clearly politically motivated and is in violations of several rules including FIFA Article 17 : governments involvement in sports.”
Mr. Hashemi added that it is regrettable that Iran’s football federation has acted weakly in this matter and allowed the situation to develop to such level. He was very critical of Kaffashian who remained silent since the announcement by the AFC while the rest of Iran is boiling in anger.
Mr. Hashemi believes that the football federation should not accept this ruling at all even if such insistence to exercise its legal right to play in its own country means the withdrawal from the competition. “If we accept to play in a third country, it means that we have admitted that Iran , our beloved country is not safe and lacks security and accusation by a country like Saudi Arabia , itself a center of numerous terrorist acts , suicidal bombing that has resulted in the death of 100’s of people and to top that , it is involved in a war against Yemen and proxy war in Syria is true!”
IRANIAN CLUBS THREATS
Iranian clubs in the Champions League have previously announced that the issuance of the decision in favor of Saudi Arabia and denying them the right to play their home games at home will result in their withdrawal from the AFC Champions League.
There has also been calls to take the matter to CAS for a ruling on the case
WHAT AFC SAID
Asian Football Confederation said in a statement: “Unfortunately we have to announce the tension between Iran and Saudi Arabia continues. Saudi government still has not lifted a travel ban on its citizens to Iran, and that includes football, too. There has been no change in the relations between the two countries and led him to take such a decision. “
What exactly is political interference?
According to Thierry Regenass FIFA’s Director of Member Associations and Development, FIFA has the mandate to control association football worldwide, in all its aspects. This mandate is delegated to the national association, to control association football at the national level. This is about managing, controlling and developing football as a game and also the organisation of the game in general. The associations have the obligation to do it on their own, in an autonomous way without outside interference, from the government or any other parties. In general, political interference is when a government tries to take direct control.