Palestinian side al-Quds on Friday announced their withdrawal from the Asian Football Confederation Champions League due to security concerns, the AFC said in a statement.
The Palestine Football Association (PFA) informed the AFC of the sudden withdrawal, saying the team could neither travel to Turkmenistan, where they were due to meet Nisa in the third qualifying round, nor host the match in Palestinian territory due to ”security concerns”.
”The current difficulties in Palestine make it very hard for al-Quds to make the trip to Turkmenistan.
”At the same time, we are also unable to accommodate Nisa for the return match at home because of security concerns,” the PFA said in a letter to AFC.
”Due to this, al-Quds have regretfully withdrawn from the
Champions League competition.”
PFA representative Ahmed Afifi said the decision to withdraw from the competition was made with a ”heavy heart”, adding that the team had been looking forward to playing the match against Nisa.
More than 2 400 Palestinians and Israelis have died since the start of the intifada in late September 2000. – Sapa-AFP