Qatari football official barred from Asian Cup in UAE

A Qatari official and senior member of the Asian Football Confederation was denied access to the United Arab Emirates this week, where national football teams landed to take part in the region’s top footballing tournament.

Saoud al-Mohannadi, vice president of the Asian Football Confederation, was barred from travelling to the UAE from Oman to attend the Asian Cup tournament after officials at the airport warned he would not be granted access by Abu Dhabi.

Mohannadi heads the AFC’s competitions committee, a group with overall responsibility for the Asian Cup, which is being held in the UAE this year.

The senior Qatari official wrote a formal complaint to Bahraini royal Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim al-Khalifa, who is the current president of the AFC. The organisation said it had been “assured of visas and entry permits” for tournament organising committee members and executives.

Qatar’s soccer federation, which is due to host the World Cup in 2022, said in a statement that it had reached out to the AFC. “We will comment further once we have an official response on the incident,” the federation said.

The UAE and Bahrain, along with Saudi Arabia and Egypt severed diplomatic ties with Qatar in 2017, accusing it of supporting terrorism and fostering close ties with their regional rival Iran - charges Doha denies.

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