Indian club Mohun Bagan Super Giant may face a multi-year ban from Asian football after deciding not to travel to Iran for their AFC Champions League Two game against Sepahan SC. TheKolkata club was worried about safety and theyasked to move the match to a neutral venue, but the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has rejected the request.
Under the Article 5.2 of the competition regulations, the team has officially been treated as withdrawn from the tournament which is Asia’s second-tier club competition. An AFC statement on Tuesday confirmed, “The matter will now be referred to the relevant AFC Committee(s) as appropriate for their decision(s)”. This means the case will now go before the AFC’s disciplinary bodies for possible fines and suspensions.
Mohun Bagan had faced a similar situation last season, where they refused to play in Iran. Thattime it was treated as a “force majeure” event and there was no punishment apart from removal from the tournament. This time, the AFC has noted that other clubs, like Al Wahda of UAE and Al Muharraq of Bahrain, have travelled to Iran. Amatch commissioner, Arunava Bhattacharya, from Kolkata also went to Tehran for Esteghlal FC’s home clash against Al-Muharraq.
According to AFC regulation’s Article 5.7 of the competition, “If any club withdraws from the competition at any stage, the case shall be referred to the AFC Disciplinary and Ethics Committee”. The same article tells that a club might face a fine of at least $50,000 and can be banned from future seasons.
In an email to AFC last week, Mohun Bagan saidthat government advisories from several countries “explicitly prohibit travel to Iran” because of the high-risk conditions and that insurance coverage for Iran is unavailable under Article 3.4.
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