Club protests against bust
Saudi champions boycott CL game in Iran
October 2, 2023, 11:03 p.m
The bust of a slain Iranian general is to blame: the Saudi Arabian football champions are surprisingly not playing in the Asian Champions League. Benzema club officials reportedly even refused to enter the stadium.
According to media reports, the Saudi Arabian football champions Al-Ittihad did not appear in the Champions League game against Sepahan FC in Isfahan in protest against the bust of a former high-ranking Iranian military officer. The Asian Football Confederation announced that the game was canceled due to “unexpected and unforeseen circumstances”.
According to media reports, there was a bust of Ghassem Soleimani near the pitch at Naghsh-e-Jahan Stadium. The Revolutionary Guard general was killed in a US drone strike in Iraq on January 3, 2020. According to Arab News, Saudi players and officials refused to enter the stadium. English media such as “Mirror” and “Sun” also took up the topic. European stars Karim Benzema, Jota and N’Golo Kanté are also under contract with Al-Ittihad.
This season, according to the BBC, Saudi clubs are returning to Iran for the first time since 2016. At that time, a group of hardline Iranian militiamen, the Basij, part of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, attacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran.
As a result, teams from Saudi Arabia refused to travel to Iran for international sports competitions because their safety was not guaranteed. Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr became the first Saudi team to play in Iran this season when they beat Persepolis in an Asian Champions League match last month.