On February 8, Beijing time, the AFC officially announced that because Shandong Taishan (Shandong Luneng) did not meet the relevant criteria, it has decided to withdraw Shandong Taishan's qualification for the 2021 AFC Champions League. The official announcement of the AFC is as follows: Due to the failure to meet the mandatory guidelines on overdue payables in the AFC Club Access Regulations (2016 Edition), the AFC independent access review agency has decided to revoke Shandong Taishan (Shandong Luneng) in Qualifications for the 2021 AFC Champions League.
It is reported that Shandong Luneng's related overdue payment case is a contract dispute between the relevant members of the former foreign teacher team and the club. The club failed to pay on time after CAS (International Sports Arbitration Tribunal) ruled to pay last year. According to the relevant regulations of the AFC, it is not allowed to qualify for the AFC.
The foreign teacher who has a contract dispute with Tarzan is Kevin Stotts, a member of the Magat team. The foreign teacher’s reputation is extremely poor. In the 2017 Chinese Super League, Kevin Stotts left the team for a vacation abroad without the permission of the club during the important game for the team to compete for the qualification of the 2018 AFC Champions League. , And then refused to obey the management of the club and returned home without the permission of the club.
Objectively speaking, Shandong Taishan’s current passive situation cannot be separated from the Chinese Football Association’s ignorance of the rules. In January 2018, the then Shandong Luneng Club submitted an arbitration application to the Arbitration Commission of the Chinese Football Association for the termination of the contract with Kevin Stotts. Luneng Taishan on Kevin's arbitration in the Football Association in the end, there is no follow-up here.
More importantly, for the 4 clubs participating in the AFC Super League, they must first be reported to the AFC after all aspects of the Football Association have checked them correctly. I believe the Football Association is not ignorant of this big loophole, which shows that the Football Association is not professional enough in handling this kind of thing, let alone understand the rules. As the Chinese Super League team that has done the best preparation for the new season, Taishan has everything ready and only owes the wind. Such an occurrence will undoubtedly be a blow to the new team who is ready to do a big job in the new season.
According to the official AFC document,Shandong Taishan has ten days to appeal, but no one is optimistic about the outcome of the appeal. Because of such a big event, the AFC officials did not communicate with the Chinese Football Association and the club at all before the announcement. On January 27th, the AFC held the draw ceremony for the AFC group match at the Kuala Lumpur headquarters. Contested the eligibility of the contest. Suddenly making a ruling at this moment, it is obviously a conspiracy, no matter who is behind the scenes, this has become a joke in world football,
According to the qualification of the Chinese Super League last season, it represents the Chinese Super League champions. The four teams are Jiangsu, Shandong Taishan, Guangzhou and Beijing Guoan. Among them, Jiangsu, Shandong and Guangzhou directly advance to the group stage, while Guoan will participate in the play-offs. If Luneng is disqualified from the AFC Champions League, then Guoan should enter the race directly, and Shanghai Haigang will be eligible to participate in the AFC Champions League play-offs. There is no doubt that Guoan and Haigang will be the two clubs that will benefit Luneng to withdraw from the AFC.
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