AFC - The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Competitions Committee met in Doha, Qatar on Sunday to discuss requests by the Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF) and the United Arab Emirates Football Association (UAE FA) to play national and club matches against IR Iran at neutral venues.

The committee, chaired by Mr Saoud Al Mohannadi (Qatar), will meet for two days to accommodate a full and detailed discussion on the case put by the three football bodies involved and allow time to review the options available to the AFC.

The committee discussed requests from SAFF and UAE FA, asking for the switch of any national and club games to ‘assure the safety and security of the teams and accompanying delegations’. Saudi Arabia have also suggested Qatar as a neutral venue.

The IR Iran Football Federation (IRIFF) in turn said that their ‘expectation from the AFC was to disallow political interference in football’ and reiterated that IR Iran was one of the ‘safest countries in the region.’

The IRIFF also said it was committed to ‘ensuring the safety and security of all the national teams and clubs participating in various international competitions.

The AFC, recognising the importance of the issue, asked the International Center for Sport Security (ICSS), as an independent organisation, to evaluate what that they recognise is a ‘volatile situation’ and provide whatever guidance possible to the Competitions Committee based on the information available.

At present two clubs from Saudi Arabia and IR Iran are drawn in the same group in the AFC Champions League 2016 and one club from IR Iran is in the same group as a club from UAE. There is a possibility, depending on the results of the preliminary play-offs, of other clubs from the respective countries meeting in the Group stages.

The meeting continues on Monday.