Qatar Football World Cup 2022: Iran files CAS complaint against AFC for awarding Bahrain
The Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran has
appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against the Asian Football
Confederation's decision to choose Bahrain as its centralized host for upcoming
Football World Cup qualifiers.
In mid-March, the AFC awarded Bahrain hosting rights for
Group C in Asian qualifying after deciding to keep the upcoming fixtures in one
place due to the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic. Football World Cup hosts
Qatar, as well as China, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and
South Korea, were all respectively awarded hosting duties for their respective
groups.
Later that month, the AFC sent a letter to the FFIRI in
which it insisted that Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, the AFC President,
had not intervened in selecting his home country for the qualifiers. While we
appreciate the interest by the FFIRI to host the Qatar Football World
Cup 2022 and 2023 AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers. We would like to inform you
that the decision was made by the AFC general secretariat after due
consideration and deliberation, factoring various areas, including.
“But not limited to the standard of the proposed stadiums, risk assessment on logistical, commercial and financial arrangements for the participating member associations as well as the national COVID-19 pandemic status," read the letter.
The AFC President does not intervene in the decisions made
by the AFC general secretariat. The FFIRI has since announced it would be
appealing the hosting rights being given to Bahrain. The AFC has chosen Bahrain
as the centralized venue and has said the venue cannot be changed at all, read
a statement from FFIRI, as reported by the Tehran Times.
We've asked CAS to consider the issue as soon as possible. It
is reported that the Bahrain Football Association submitted its interest to
host the group on February 16 and offered to pay Iran's expenses for the
competition the following day. For more to know about Football world cup
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The Tehran Times reported that Kuwait was awarded
hosting over group rivals Jordan in respect to fair play, giving Kuwait their
anticipated home tie. Iran was not given this same treatment about Bahrain,
with its football authorities expressing concerns over two weeks in late March
and refusing to travel to Bahrain's capital Manama for a proposed meeting on
April 3.
FFIRI had to file an appeal to CAS by March 31, which it
reportedly did minutes ahead of the legal deadline and this was acknowledged
last Monday. An online meeting involving AFC President Sheikh Salman and AFC
general secretary Dato' Windsor John took place on Tuesday, but the Iran appeal
was not discussed.
Iran had been scheduled to host three of the four remaining
matches before COVID-19 caused issues with qualifying. These were set to take
place in Tehran against rivals Iraq, Bahrain and Hong Kong, while their only
away game against Cambodia was set to be held in Pnom Penh.
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