Asian Champions League quarterfinal sends Iran’s Tractor FC to Saudi Arabia

Iranian club Tractor FC is set to travel to Saudi Arabia for a playoff against Shabab Al-Ahli of Dubai for a place in the Asian Champions League Elite quarterfinals against Buriram United of Thailand.

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) held the draw on Wednesday to determine the quarterfinal pairings, a day after announcing that the western zone playoffs that were postponed because of the war in the Middle East have been rescheduled for April 13-14 in Jeddah.

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The Saudi city is also slated to host the tournament quarterfinals, semifinals and final from April 16 to 25, with organisers setting the dates and hoping for peace in the region.

“We all want to play matches as soon as possible. So, hopefully we’re able to finish fixtures in April as we have planned,” AFC general secretary Windsor John said. “We’re hoping that things will calm down very soon.”

The participating clubs have been “quite supportive of the measures we’ve put in place to ensure that we only play when things have calmed down”.

Japan’s Vissel Kobe, which placed second in the east zone, was drawn on Wednesday to play the winners of the playoff between four-time champions Al-Hilal of Saudi Arabia and Al-Sadd of the United Arab Emirates.

Defending champions Al-Ahli Saudi will play Al-Duhail of Qatar for a spot in the quarterfinals against Johor Darul Ta’zim of Malaysia.

Saudi Pro League champions Al-Ittihad will take on Al-Wahda for a place in the quarterfinals against Japan’s Machida Zelvia, which topped the east zone league stage.

The AFC Champions League Two and AFC Challenge League quarterfinals were also postponed due to the US-Israel war on Iran. The AFC said on Tuesday that those matches would be played on April 19 and 22 at centralised venues, to be named later.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s Saudi club Al-Nassr is among the teams involved in the Asian Champions League Two competition.

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