The Peninsula
A Qatari official and senior Asian Cup tournament organiser arrived in the United Arab Emirates Friday after sources close to the matter confirmed he had been denied entry 24 hours earlier.
Saoud al-Mohannadi, vice-president of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the Qatar Football Association, arrived in Abu Dhabi on Friday, the AFC said.
Mohannadi is also chair of the Asian Cup's organising committee.
An AFC statement on Thursday said it was "aware of reports that [Mohannadi]... was unable to travel to the United Arab Emirates from Muscat in Oman".
"We are investigating the situation as we were assured of visas and entry permits for all AFC Organising Committee and Executive Members," the AFC said.
However, Aref Hamad al-Awani, the Emirati Local Organising Committee tournament director denied to AFP that anyone had been stopped from entering the country.
The almost month-long tournament will be hosted by the UAE.
The UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain -- which have imposed a blockade on Qatar since June 2017 -- all have teams in the competition.
As part of the blockade, direct flights from Qatar to the blockading countries have been halted. Qatari planes are also banned from the airspace of rival countries.
Qatar will also play in the Asian Cup -- and their team has been drawn in the same group as Saudi.
The pair meet on January 17 in Abu Dhabi.
It is the first time Qatar will have played in the blockading nations since the start of the crisis.
The team flies to the Emirates on January 5 via Kuwait.