Sometimes things agreed upon in offices are not accepted by society. And often football fields They become scenarios in which these disagreements are confirmed. All that was needed at the Naghsh-e Jahan stadium in Isfahan, Iran, was a statue of the former Iranian general. Qassem Soleimani to show that it is normalization of relations between Iranian And Saudi Arabia It’s not going as smoothly as the authorities thought.

After seven years without diplomatic ties and only a few months of reconciliation, Saudi team Al Ittihad is the team of former Real Madrid player Karim BenzemaThey refused to take the field this Monday and share the pressure with that pressure. Iranian Sepahan. For better or worse, geopolitics always affects football.

Qasem Soleimani was a terrorist by the Iranians. hero. More precisely, a martyr after being killed by US forces in 2020. So they decorated the lawn with his bust. Responsible for the Quds Force, Israel’s specialized foreign operations arm Islamic Revolutionary Guard CorpsThe commander played a central role in directing Iran’s activities in the Middle East for decades.

Postponement due to “unforeseen circumstances”

For the Saudis, he is an important architect of Iran policy. armamenteducation and leadership Armed groups in the regionThey include fighters from Yemen’s Houthi rebel group. Saudi Arabia has been fighting them since 2015. Yemen war. For this reason, Al Ittihad players did not want to come out of the dressing room tunnel and hit Soleimani in the face.

After a half-hour delay, the Asian Champions League match could not be played, leading to its postponement “due to unforeseen circumstances”. Some 60,000 fans They missed the opportunity to see the Saudi champions and their new stars from England, N’Golo Kante and Fabinho.

Many videos on social networks show angry Iranian fans. “We do not want politics in football”, they shouted. “C.F.A. [Confederación Asiática de Fútbol] “We reiterate our commitment to ensuring the safety of players, match officials, spectators and all relevant stakeholders,” the CFA said in a statement. “This issue will now be referred to the relevant commissions,” they said.

Ronaldo fever in Iran

Saudi television Al Ekhbariya published the images of the Saudi team. airport He reported that they were returning home from Isfahan. Saudi club on 19 September Al Nasr Cristiano Ronaldo A historic match was played in Tehran, because it was the first time since then that a Saudi club was playing in Iran. 2016. This incident occurred a month after an “innovative” agreement between both regional powers to continue the celebrations. round trip football matches After seven years of competition between clubs at neutral venues due to safety concerns. This agreement was the latest in a series of gestures of rapprochement motivated by the compromise announced through mediation in March. Chinese.

After that seven years facing In various conflicts in the region, Iran and Saudi Arabia have thus re-established diplomatic ties and pledged to reopen their respective embassies. Despite the efforts of both other actors and other actors to reduce this rate tensionsrelations remain tense. We still have many wounds that have not healed. It is difficult to eliminate resentments on the grass, in the offices of rulers, covered up with a few bills and promises. The new date of the match between Al Ittihad and Sepahan has not been determined yet. Time will tell whether they can reach an agreement.