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Iranian Media: Esteghlal and Persepolis 'Excluded' from AFC Champions League

November 1, 2021
Payam Younesipour
3 min read
Iranian Media: Esteghlal and Persepolis 'Excluded' from AFC Champions League

Iran’s Fars and Mehr News Agencies report that both Persepolis and Esteghlal FC have been removed from the 2022 Asian Champions League due to non-compliance with the rules of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). In recent weeks, AFC has once again challenged the "joint ownership" of the two Iranian clubs by the Ministry of Sports and Youth.

If true, this would be devastating news. Esteghlal is the strongest Iranian club to have taken part in Asian competitions, with two championships, two second places and three third places in the Asian Club Championship. Persepolis is the only Iranian club to have reached the final since the contest became the AFC Champions League in 2002, and has also come third three times.

The AFC issued its most recent, stern official warning to the Iranian Football Federation last week. The same memo was sent to Esteghlal, Persepolis and the Sports Ministry. It insisted that ownership of these two clubs, or at the very least one of them, be removed from the Ministry or both would be excluded.

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has a history of barring clubs from the League on the grounds of perceived political interference in sport, including Saudi clubs. Both Esteghlal, formerly Taj, and Persepolis were effectively requisitioned by the Islamic Republic after 1979, and control of them handed over to state entities. This has been a cause of concern for the AFC since at least 2019.

Fars News Agency, which is affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, declared at the weekend: "although the elimination of Esteghlal and Persepolis has not yet been officially announced by the AFC”, the two clubs should expect to be excluded from the tournament in 2022.

Iran’s Professional Licensing Appeals Committee, chaired by former Team Melli player Dariush Mostafavi, had until 7.30pm Iranian time on Sunday night to make a decision on the conditions set by AFC. Based on what was known so far, Fars’s correspondent said the teams had “less than a one per cent chance” of making the grade.

Mehr News Agency went further, definitively stating on the same day that the exclusion of Esteghlal and Persepolis was already a done deal. This, it said, was based on information it had about the joint ownership of both clubs that put their “professionalism” in doubt.

Mehr further claimed that ever that since the formation of the Professional Football Licensing Committee in Iran, the AFC had been warning its members to suspend all activities by the Iranian Football Federation in the event of any violations or fraud in the club's professional licensing. This, it suggested, had not happened. If the Federation is found to have forged any documentation on behalf of either team, it could be fined up to a million dollars for breach of contract.

According to Mehr, the Iranian Football Federation’s own licensing committee once again asked the Asian Football Confederation for more time last week. This in turn was “strongly opposed” by the AFC, correspondents wrote. Last year Iran’s then-Minister of Sports, Massoud Soltanifar, had attended the AFC’s headquarters in Kuala Lumpur and promised to clarify and resolve the issue of ownership of the two clubs, as well as their financial and debt status, within 12 months. Borna News Agency, a media outlet affiliated with the Ministry of Sports, quoted first vice president Eshagh Jahangiri as saying: "Massoud Soltanifar firmly stands for the privatization of Esteghlal and Persepolis clubs."

Now, Mehr News Agency writes with conviction that neither Esteghlal nor Persepolis received a professional license to participate in the 2022 AFC Champions League. These are the two most important footballing assets of Iran, with more than 60 million fans at home and abroad, to which the wider landscape of Iranian football is indebted.

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