Asian Champions League: Saudi’s Al Ittihad must play next home game behind closed doors

Asia’s football body has ordered Saudi club Al Ittihad to play its next Asian Football Confederation (AFC) home match behind closed doors, without any spectators, as a result of fan misbehaviour.

In its latest list of decisions released Friday, the AFC’s Disciplinary Committee said the club’s supporters had thrown bottles at the field on several occasions, with one of them hitting a player from Uzbekistan’s Lokomotiv Tashkent on March 1.

Al Ittihad have one more ‘home’ match remaining in Asian Champions League group play, but it is against Iran’s Sepahan, with Iranian and Saudi clubs having been ordered by the governing body to play their matches at neutral venues in Asian competition this year amid political animosity between the nations.

The Jeddah-based club are bottom of Group A, with two points from three matches. They lost at home 2-1 to group leaders Al Nasr of Dubai and drew the match 1-1 against Lokomotiv last month.

In the event Ittihad manage to fight their way out of the group stage, it would be the home leg of a last-16 tie that would be affected by the spectators ban. That round is scheduled for May17-18 and 24-25.

The football body also suspended Amer Sharifi, a player from Jordan’s Al Wehdat club, for six AFC Cup matches “for offensive behaviour and insulting gestures at the referee”, during a match against Lebanon’s Ahed FC.

The player was also fined $10,000 (Dh36,700) and warned that a repeat violation would result in more severe punishment in the future.

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