KUALA LUMPUR: AFC has asked last year’s runners-up Sepahan of Iran to play their remaining home fixtures of the AFC Champions League 2008 at the Azadi Stadium in Tehran following the Iranian club’s failure to renovate the Foolad Shahr Stadium in Isfahan as per AFC’s directives.

AFC had instructed the AFC Champions League 2007 finalists to renovate all the dressing rooms and medical facilities, set up a media centre and create separate accesses for photographers to ensure segregation of media from VIPs and players.

The club had furnished guarantees that the refurbishment would be completed before the first match day of the AFC Champions League but their failure to do so has led to the AFC nominating the Azadi Stadium in Tehran as the venue for their remaining home games.

Sepahan lost to Syria’s Al Ittihad 2-0 in the opener and will take on Uzbekistan’s Kuruvchi in an away match on March 19. They will play their second home game on April 9 against Saudi Arabia’s two-time AFC Champions League winners Al Ittihad.