On Friday, Iran Football Federation said it has received a letter from the AFC which read that its Competitions Committee has decided to strip the Iranian sides of playing on home soil.

Earlier on Monday, the Asian football governing body confirmed that two Iranian sides, Esteghlal and Shahr Khodro, should play their preliminary fixtures in Doha, Qatar, on January 25.

Esteghlal was initially scheduled to take on Kuwait SC at Tehran’s Azadi Stadium today, with Shahr Khodro also set to host Bahraini side Al Riffa.

The AFC has also decided that the Iranian representatives in the group stage play all their away games in the first three matchdays of the competition before a final decision is made regarding Iranians’ match-hosting in March – before Matchday 4 gets underway.

Persepolis and Sepahan have already secured spots in Group C and Group D, respectively.

The AFC also in response, said the Iranian and Saudi Arabian clubs will still have to take on each other in neutral venues, due to political tensions between the two countries.

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In remarks on Sunday night, Araqchi described the move by AFC as “unfair” and said the Saudis tried to misuse the opportunity given the recent deaths of innocent people in Iran.

They (Saudis) wanted to link the killing of the people to their own political objectives and deprive Iranian teams of their right so that they can win the competition, which is aimed at international friendship, the diplomat added.

The cancellation of Iranian clubs’ hosting of matches in Asian games was a politically-motivated move and Saudi Arabia should be opposed to “this unfair abuse”, he stressed.

The Football Federation of the Islamic Republic of Iran (FFIRI) has said it would stand up to the “illegal” decision by the AFC to ban the country from hosting any international matches on Iranian soil.

Federation chief Heidar Baharvand said the federation and managers of the four teams playing in the AFC Champions League held an extraordinary meeting on Saturday and decided unanimously to reject the decision.

The federation on Friday said it had received a letter from the AFC saying all matches involving Iranian clubs would be held at a neutral venue.

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