Tehran Times - Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran (FFIRI) has officially responded to Asian Football Confederation (AFC) on how to continue the 2020 AFC Champions League matches.
Football around the world has been suspended amid the coronavirus pandemic, and AFC were forced to halt its tournaments.
The AFC Champions League, known as ACL, has four rounds of group games still to play, and there have been discussions about holding a mini tournament to finish the competition.
The AFC Competition Committee has asked for help from member associations to figure out a way to hold the remaining matches. A Qatari newspaper had reported that AFC consider playing the rest of the competition in single-legged format.
Therefore, the FFIRI, in coordination with the Iran Football League Organization, in an official letter, announced the request of the Iranian clubs to hold the remaining ACL matches in the two-legged format as before.
The AFC had said that home group-stage matches on matchday one, two, and three involving Iranian clubs would be switched to away fixtures “to allow time to reassess the security concerns in the country.”
Thus, the Iranian football federation has stated in its letter that based on the previous decision of AFC, now the Iranian clubs competing in ACL, namely Esteghlal, Sepahan, Shahrkhodro, and Persepolis, expect to be able to use their hosting rights in the completion.