Mohun Bagan Disqualified from Asian Champions League for Declining Trip to Iran

"As per Article 5.2 of the AFC Champions League 2024/25 Competition Regulations, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has announced that Mohun Bagan Super Giant from India has been deemed to have withdrawn from the ACL 2 competition. This decision comes after the club failed to attend their scheduled match against Tractor FC in Tabriz on October 2, 2024," stated the AFC.

"Consequently, all matches played by Mohun Bagan SG are cancelled and considered null and void in accordance with Article 5.6 of Competition Regulations. For the avoidance of doubt, no points and goals in the club's matches shall be taken into consideration when determining the final rankings in Group A pursuant to Article 8.3 of the Competition Regulations." Mohun Bagan SG were to play Tractor FC on October 2 in their Group A match of the ACL 2 -- the continent's second tier club competition -- but their players expressed unwillingness to play in Iran, which had announced a state of mourning following the death of a prominent general of the Revolutionary Guard in an Israeli air strike.

"The matter will now be referred to the relevant AFC Committee(s) as appropriate for their decision(s)," the AFC said in the statement.

In their first match of Group A, Mohun Bagan had played out a goalless draw against Tajikistan's FC Ravshan.

It was learnt that 35 registered players, including seven foreigners, wrote to the club that they didn't wish to go to Iran at that point in time.

"So we tagged their letters and wrote to the AFC, asking them to either reschedule the match or move the game to a neutral venue," a Mohun Bagan source had told PTI.

Listen to the latest songs, only on JioSaavn.com

"We have decided to not travel to Iran keeping our players' safety and security in mind, because that is paramount. We have also written to the ministry of external affairs as their advisory states that you can go to Iran or Israel on your own responsibility."

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)