AFC Champions League officials under fire for moving Ronaldo’s Iran game after India snub
Security in situation forces game to be moved to Dubai, but India’s Mohun Bagan were punished for refusing to travel to unsettled region
Cristiano Ronaldo and Al Nassr’s AFC Champions League Elite game with Esteghlal of Tehran on Tuesday will be as closely watched in India as it is in Saudi Arabia and Iran.
The Asian Football Confederation said in a statement released last Tuesday that Esteghlal had to move its home fixture with Al Nassr to the United Arab Emirates city of Dubai because of the security situation in the Middle East.
The decision was greeted by surprise in India as, on October 7, the AFC ruled that Mohun Bagan Super Giants of Kolkata had been “considered to have withdrawn” from the second tier AFC Champions League Two for refusing to travel to Iran to play its October 2 fixture against Tractor SC in the northwestern city of Tabriz.
It is not only Al Nassr’s game that has been relocated. Tractor’s home game against Ravshan of Tajikistan, scheduled for Wednesday, has been switched to become an away tie. Iran’s national team also had to move its October 15 World Cup qualifier against Qatar to Dubai.
“Mohun Bagan notes that the AFC has indeed recognised the volatility of the situation in Iran and as such, has rescheduled or shifted venues for several games,” a spokesperson for Mohun Bagan told Associated Press, adding that the confederation had taken the same geopolitical instability into account that the club had. “Failing to apply the same standard to Mohun Bagan would result in unequal treatment by the AFC.”
According to the spokesperson, Mohun Bagan had made a request to the AFC that the game’s date or venue be changed before it decided not to travel.
