Qatar, UAE matches become political footballs in Gulf crisis

DOHA: An Abu Dhabi football ground may seem an unlikely venue for a rare let-up in a protracted diplomatic crisis, but a match between Qatari and Emirati clubs marks a first since Doha’s neighbours imposed a crippling blockade.

Today, the Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium will see the United Arab Emirates’ Al Jazira take on Qatar’s Al-Gharafa in the group stage of the AFC Champions League. That will be the first time since the bitter dispute began on June 5 that sports teams from rival sides face each other on their respective territory. “It’s the one and only breach of the diplomatic and political boycott of Qatar since June,” said James Dorsey, a specialist in Middle East football and politics and a senior fellow at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt cut all ties with Qatar over its alleged support for Islamist extremists and proximity to Shiite Iran-charges Doha denies.

Simon Chadwick, a professor of Sports Enterprise at the United Kingdom’s Salford University and a member of a Qatari government sport think tank, said Monday’s game and others “won’t just be a football match, it will be a geopolitical episode”.

Asian football’s governing body, the AFC, last month refused Saudi and Emirati requests to play group stage matches on neutral turf. Matches between “clubs from Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates should be played on a home and away basis in 2018 as per the AFC regulations,” it insisted. The Saudi and Emirati football associations reluctantly agreed. That was in contrast to the December Gulf Cup, in which Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain refused to play matches in Qatar, forcing a last-minute switch of venue to Kuwait.

Gas-rich Qatar’s neighbours imposed a blanket travel ban that has been rigidly enforced by Saudi, UAE and Bahrain. Last month Qatar and the UAE traded accusations of airspace violations by planes from each others’ countries.

The hostile context has turned the Champions League into a political football. The AFC decided to keep the traditional home-and-away format of the tournament’s group stages after “an independent safety and security assessment” in Qatar, which is preparing to host the 2022 World Cup.