AFC - AFC has disqualified Esteghlal Tehran FC
of Iran from participating in the 2007 edition of the AFC Champions League
for failing to fulfil player registration regulations.
Esteghlal Tehran failed to submit their Preliminary Player Registration
forms by the February 11, 2007 deadline set by AFC.
This represents a serious breach of Article 30 (F) (i) which governs the
competition. The regulation states that: "Each club entering the Competition
shall send to the AFC Secretariat a squad list of no more than thirty (30)
players for the Competition by 11 February, 2007. Any Club that does not
submit their registration by the registration deadline shall be
automatically disqualified from the Competition. In this situation, the team
will be deemed to have lost all their matches by a score of 3–0."
AFC has decided to leave the competition format unchanged and Group B will
now comprise Pakhtakor (Uzbekistan), Kuwait Sports Club (Kuwait) and Al
Hilal (Saudi Arabia).
This decision follows a similar move last year when AFC disqualified
Provincial Electricity Authority and Thailand Tobacco Monopoly (both from
Thailand) and Arema Malang and Persipura Jayapura (both from Indonesia) for
a similar breach of AFC Champions League regulations.
