League, the Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran received a letter from AFC on 17 January 2020 announcing that teams from Iran would not be allowed to host their home matches in their country due to security concerns. The 4 AFC Champions League teams from Iran announced on 18 January 2020 that they would withdraw from the tournament if the ban was not reversed. AFC announced on 23 January 2020 that any group stage matches which the Iranian teams were supposed to host on matchdays 1, 2 and 3 would be switched with the corresponding away matches to allow time to reassess the security concerns in the country. World Cup qualifiers Tensions between the 2 Koreas during the 2010 World Cup qualification had led North Korea to withdraw from hosting South Korean team and refusing to display the South Korean flag and play their national anthem. As a result, North Korea's home matches were moved to Shanghai. During the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, North Korea reluctantly agreed to host the South Korean team in Pyongyang, the first time North Korea hosted South Korea at home in a competitive match. North Korean government banned supporters from entering the stadium. The match ended a goalless draw, and as for the result of controversies, South Korea decided to pull out the bid for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, and accused North Korea of political meddling in sports. AFC was accused of doing little about the case, which led to AFC to decide the final of the 2019 AFC Cup would not be hosted in North Korea. See also AFC Annual Awards List of presidents of AFC International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) Confederation of African Football (CAF) Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) Confederation of South American Football (CONMEBOL) Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) List of association football competitions References External links Official website Articles which contain graphical timelines FIFA confederations International organisations based in Malaysia Organisations based in Kuala Lumpur Sports organizations established in 1954 1954 establishments in Asia 1954 establishments in the Philippines