JEDDAH: Saudi clubs Al-Ahli and Al-Nasr would play in the final of the Gulf Clubs Championship 2008 in home and away matches after world football body FIFA yesterday announced it had suspended the federations of Kuwait and Samoa while placing that of Peru under observation. FIFA also rejected the entry of Kosovo federation.
The suspension of Kuwait means that both its clubs, Qadisia and Al-Salmiyah, are barred from further playing in the semifinals and sets up an Ahli-Nasr final clash.
Qadisia defeated Al-Salmiyah 4-3 in the first leg match and they are to play the second leg match today, which had been effectively cancelled with the FIFA decision.
Ahli and Nasr play the first leg of the final series on Monday at Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal stadium here and the second leg match on Nov. 3 in Riyadh.
“We had given a supplementary delayto the Kuwaitis before finally suspending them,” Blatter said at FIFA’s Executive Committee meeting in Zurich. Kuwait’s federation were to have held their general assembly in September but delayed it for Ramadan but after no meeting took place Blatter said the Kuwaitis had been “definitively suspended” from international matches.
— With input from agencies
