Iran riled up over ‘small share’ of tickets at AFC semifinal with Qatar

Iran is angry with host Qatar over allocating a small number of the tickets for its fans for the Wednesday football match between the two sides in Doha within AFC Asian Cup semifinal competitions.

Mahdi Mohammad Nabi, the Iranian national team’s caretaker, said on Tuesday, “According to the regulations of this edition of the AFC Asian Cup competitions, 8 percent of the seats of the stadium have to be allocated to the Iranian Football Federation.”

“Unfortunately, for whatever reason that is not acceptable for us, they have allocated four percent to Iran, which means 1000 people,” he added.

The Iranian football team, popularly known as Team Melli, defeated Japan 2-1 in the quarterfinals on Saturday and has to play against Asian Cup holder and host Qatar.

Also on Saturday, Qatar defeated Uzbekistan on penalties after a 1-1 draw to find a place in the semis.

In the other semifinal match, Australia’s conqueror South Korea will go up against Jordan for a spot in the final.

IFP Editorial Staff

The IFP Editorial Staff is composed of dozens of skilled journalists, news-writers, and analysts whose works are edited and published by experienced editors specialized in Iran News. The editor of each IFP Service is responsible for the report published by the Iran Front Page (IFP) news website, and can be contacted through the ways mentioned in the "IFP Editorial Staff" section.