Despite the rapprochement, Saudi Arabia and Iran get confused on a football field – Libération

The Saudi team of Al-Ittihad, where the French Karim Benzema and N’Golo Kanté play, was due to face the Isfahan club on Monday October 2. A meeting ultimately canceled, the Iranian authorities refusing to remove busts of the former leader of the Revolutionary Guards Qassem Soleimani from the lawn.

Let’s imagine the stunned face of Karim Benzema or N’Golo Kanté in the locker room of the Iranian Naghsh-e-Jahan stadium on Monday October 2, when they were informed of the cancellation of the match they were to play with their Saudi team Al-Ittihad against the Sepahan club in the Asian Champions League. Let’s imagine the dialogue between the two French internationals and the managers of their clubs who tried to explain to them what was happening.

“- But why ?

— Due to the presence on the field of “political elements that have nothing to do with football”

– Like what ?

— Busts of Qassem Soleimani installed on the lawn.

– Who is that ?

— The former head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, responsible for wars and deaths across Arab countries.

—And where is he there?

— He was killed in a US raid in 2020 at Baghdad airport.

“But go ahead!”

The amazing contracts that the two French champions signed a few months ago with the Saudi club Jeddah apparently did not include any clause raising awareness of regional geopolitics. It was enough to understand the ambitions of the Saudi kingdom to rise to the rank of a great nation in world football. Who, to this end, strengthened his teams through massive investments, in particular by buying the strongest players, at the highest prices.

Rekindled controversies between Saudis and Iranians

Monday evening, the Al-Ittihad players did not set foot on the field where 60,000 spectators installed in the Naghsh-e-Jahan stadium awaited them, in a festive atmosphere, launching small fireworks to heat up the atmosphere. atmosphere before the start of the match. But the kick-off was ultimately not given. After long minutes of hesitation, tension, negotiations and incomprehension, Iranian officials refused to remove the busts of Qassem Soleimani facing the stands. The final whistle sounded before the start of the match. And the players of the Saudi team took the road to the airport and a flight back to Jeddah.

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) formalized the cancellation of the match, “due to unforeseen and unforeseeable circumstances”, and announced that the incident would now be dealt with by the competent committees. But the Saudis and Iranians did not wait for the deliberations to argue. The two great Gulf rivals who ratified a historic rapprochement with mediation from China in March, exchanging ambassadors and initiating collaborations, have resumed hostilities during a football match.

Provocation of the Iranians

“An Iranian football club tried to use a match against Saudi opponents for political propaganda purposes,” considers the French-language Saudi site Arab News. Staff and some players noticed the busts of Qassem Soleimani and the banners during an initial inspection of the pitch and reported the problem to the referee and Asian Confederation observers. AFC rules prohibit the use of matches to promote a political message. Confederation representatives asked Sepahan officials to remove the offensive propaganda, but they refused.

On the Iranian side, the provocation is obvious. And even if, as the Islamic Republic’s official media proclaim, “the busts of Qassem Soleimani have been installed in the stadium for four years”, facing a Saudi team, there was no chance that it would go well. The executive director of the Sepahan club announced that he would file a complaint with the AFC against Al-Ittihad for having “raised a request outside the sporting field and against the intended principles”, and had withdrawn from the game. He declared that everything had been organized for weeks for this match to take place according to the criteria of the Asian championship and that the stadium had been approved by Fifa for more than two years. “They are still afraid of your blessed statue, Qassem Soleimani,” mock Iranians on social networks.

“The Iranian public stones Soleimani after the cancellation of the match” headlines the Saudi news channel Al-Ekhbarïa, which also reports that the supporters of the Isfahan club protested by launching: “We do not want politics in football!” This is the old debate which has just resurfaced in its Middle Eastern version and which Karim Benzema and N’Golo Kanté must now integrate.