The 100,000-seater Azadi Stadium was in the spotlight here yesterday as the four soccer teams of Pirouzi of Iran, Al-Ittihad and Al-Hilal of Saudi Arabia and Pavlodar from Kazakhstan fielded their players on the pitch.

The top team of Al-Hilal with national goalie Mohammed al-Daeyea and a number of veteran footballers including Sami al-Jaber and the Kazakh Rep. played the first match of 20th Asian Soccer Clubs Championships.

Despite their high expectations from the Arab team, the spectators followed a boring game ending in a 0-0 draw.

The second and coveted derby between Pirouzi and Al-Ittihad also had no goal and the two teams were satisfied with a nil-nil tie.

Although Pirouzi was allowed to recruit its banned players, out-of-the-form Hamidreza Estili in the midfield and Behrouz Rahbarifard on the left flank, it couldn't find the Arabian net and around 45,000 fans were sent home disappointed.

The main event of the first half occurred five minutes from the interval when Man-of-the-Match Ali Karimi receiving a ball in the middle of pitch dribbled six players of Al-Ittihad and tapped it in a near-goal situation which was bounced hurriedly from the goalmouth.

Four minutes into the second time, the midfielder Hamed Kavianpour of the red-clad Pirouzi fired a superb shot meters from the box, shaving the bar.

Karimi missed another scoring opportunity in the 80th minute when his shot passed centimeters above the Al-Ittihad woodwork.

The Japanese ref Okada Masayoshi blew his final whistle and the goalless match ended.

Pirouzi and Pavlodar will play the first match of Friday and the two Arab teams will array each other in the second derby.