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Saudi team refuses to play in Iran over statue dispute
A statue of assassinated Iranian general Qassem Soleimani is placed at Naghsh-e-Jahan stadium in the central city of Isfahan, Iran, Monday, October 2, 2023
THE ASIAN Champions League match between Iran’s Sepahan and Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ittihad was controversially cancelled on Monday night.
The Saudi club did not take to the field at Naghsh-e-Jahan Stadium in Isfahan because of busts of general Qassem Soleimani, who commanded Iran’s elite Quds Force before he was killed in a US drone strike in neighbouring Iraq in January 2020.
Soleimani was seen as playing a key role in arming, training and leading armed groups across the region, including fighters from the Houthi rebel group in Yemen.
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