Football club Bengaluru FC announced on Tuesday that it would play its AFC Cup quarter-final against Singaporean club Tampines Rovers on Wednesday behind closed doors at the Kanteerava Stadium due to the prevailing security situation in the city. The kick-off has also been brought forward to 4 pm IST from 7 pm "on security advice".
Widespread rioting took place in Bengaluru on Monday over simmering tensions between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu over the sharing of the Cauvery river's water. The club announced that fans who had book tickets would be issued a refund.
"In the wake of the recent turn of events and after lengthy consultation with the Bengaluru Police, the AFC and the AIFF, we at Bengaluru FC have had to take an extremely difficult decision of playing Wednesday’s AFC Cup quarterfinal against Tampines Rovers at the Kanteerava Stadium, behind closed doors," said the club, in a statement.