Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr will not travel to Tehran for their AFC Champions League Elite match against Esteghlal FC on October 22. The match will now be played at a neutral venue.

“The Asian Football Confederation has sent a letter to the Football Federation and announced that the club (Esteghlal FC) should introduce (sic) a neutral ground to play the game as soon as possible in order to host the Saudi Arabian Al-Nasr football team in the third week of the Asian Elite League,” Esteghlal wrote in Persian on X.

Escalating conflict involving Israel and the entire region has reached unprecedented levels and concerns over players’ safety are high.

Iranian club Tractor FC’s ACL 2 match against Ravshan Kulob of Tajikistan will also be played at a neutral venue. The match was scheduled for October 23. Interestingly, Mohun Bagan Super Giant were booted out of the competition for not travelling to Tabriz for the October 2 game against Tractor FC.

“Different rules for different teams. AFC came down heavily on us for not travelling to Iran and now decides to have the next matches in a neutral venue!” a Bagan official complained.

Bagan will be appealing against the decision to the AFC disciplinary committee “in a day or two.” Bagan are yet to get an official communication from AFC regarding their withdrawal.

Bagan had decided to not travel to Iran keeping their players’ safety and security in mind. Thirty-five Bagan footballers had voiced their reservations about playing in Iran.

However, on matchday 2 of both competitions, Pakhtakor FC travelled to Tehran to play Persepolis FC on September 30 in ACL 1, and Isfahan-based Sepahan FC hosted FC Istiklol of Tajikistan in ACL 2 the next day.