The UAE Football Federation officially challenged the eligibility of some Qatari players who appeared for the Qatar National Football team in the AFC Asian Cup 2019 hosted by UAE.

The written protest was given to AFC within the permitted time after the semi-final of the Asian Cup. The complaint  is yet another layer to Qatar’s politically-charged progress to the finals in the UAE, which as a country is part of a quartet boycotting Doha socially, economically,  and politically.

The UAE Federation has attached the required documents to confirm the validity of the appeal before 48 hours of the match finishing time, which was held on Tuesday.

According to Emarati media, the UAE football federation prepared a file containing official documents proving act of fraud by Qatar in the naturalization of several players, specifically Iraqi Bassam Al-Rawi and Sudanese AlMoez Ali.

Qatar comprehensively defeated host UAE  4-0 in the semi-finals amid shameful scenes from the hostile and abusive local fans which started from booing the national anthem of Qatar, to throwing objects at Qatar players and chanting abusive politically driven chants in the stands.

The official campaign of ill treatment of Qatar began before any ball was kicked in the tournament starting with denying access to 5 Qatari journalist and then Saoud al-Mohannadi , the Qatari official and senior Asian Cup tournament organizer was denied entry 24 hours earlier, amid a simmering diplomatic dispute between the two countries.

Saoud al-Mohannadi, is vice-president of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the Qatar Football Association, he is also standing for the upcoming election of AFC presidency against the current president Salman bin Khalifa.

While the Asian Cup was being played, there was hardly any day without UAE media news and editorials attacking Qatar in an orchestrated move by the authorities to undermine the gas-rich Persian Gulf State and disturb the team’s concentration. The effect of political conflict cum animosity was clearly felt in the Mohammed Bin Zayed stadium among the local fans.

Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt and Bahrain are the four countries that have broken diplomatic relations with Qatar and closed all their skies, ports and land access to Qatari vehicles, goods and people. There was no Qatari fans in any of the Qatar matches, however small pockets of Omani fans shown their support for Qatar during this tournament. There was no Qatari press or photographers in the UAE.