Asian Champions League Elite: Iran’s Tractor FC in line for quarter-final in Saudi Arabia

Iranian club Tractor FC are set to travel to Saudi Arabia for a play-off against Shabab Al-Ahli of Dubai for a place in the Asian Champions League Elite quarter-finals against Buriram United of Thailand.

The Asian Football Confederation held the draw on Wednesday to determine the quarter-final pairings, a day after announcing that the western zone play-offs that were postponed because of the war in the Middle East had been rescheduled for April 13-14 in Jeddah.

The Saudi city is also slated to host the tournament quarter-finals, semi-finals and final from April 16 to 25, with organisers setting the dates and hoping for peace in the region.

“We all want to play matches as soon as possible. So hopefully we’re able to finish fixtures in April, as we have planned,” AFC general secretary Windsor John said. “We’re hoping that things will calm down very soon.”

The participating clubs have been “quite supportive of the measures we’ve put in place to ensure that we only play when things have calmed down”.

Japan’s Vissel Kobe – who finished second in the east zone – were drawn on Wednesday to play the winner of the play-off between four-time champion Al-Hilal of Saudi Arabia and Al-Sadd of the United Arab Emirates.

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