After the eligibility of the suspended players is proven, the Football Association demands that our youth team’s match against Saudi Arabia in the West Asian Championship be replayed

The Yemeni Football Association has called for a replay of the match between Yemen and Saudi Arabia in the 11th West Asian Championship, which is currently being held in Jordan.

The union's protest, submitted by the union's Secretary-General, Hamid Al-Shaibani, to Khalil Al-Salem, Secretary-General of the West Asian Federation, came shortly after the national youth team was excluded from the list of teams qualified for the semi-finals.

The Federation demanded that the national youth team's match against its Saudi counterpart be replayed, as two of the team's players were suspended shortly before the match began, before their eligibility to play was proven after they underwent tests later.

The Federation explained that the national team players were suspended without legal justification, which caused confusion within the team, noting that the latest tests showed the eligibility of the two suspended players, which "were conducted under the supervision of the tournament's organizing committee, which requires correcting the organizational error by replaying the match."

In addition, the Disciplinary Committee of the West Asian Football Federation issued a decision to cancel the “temporary suspension” of the national youth team players Omar Anwar and Ali Dilio for three matches, after it was found in the second examination conducted on Saturday, September 7, that the players were eligible to participate, based on Article (80) of the regulations.

The national youth team failed to defend its title after losing on Friday evening to its Saudi counterpart by three goals to one.

Yesterday, the Disciplinary Committee of the West Asian Football Federation announced sanctions against the Iraqi and Bahraini teams, and in light of that, the teams that qualified for the semi-finals were counted (Jordan as the leader of Group One, Saudi Arabia as the leader of Group Two, Palestine as the leader of Group Three, and Syria as the best second in the three groups).