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Thursday May 22, 2008

Malaysia not eligible to play in the AFC Champions League

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia have failed to meet the criteria and standards set by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Pro-League ad-hoc committee, who have recommended 11 countries for eligibility to field teams in the AFC Champions League next year.

Japan, South Korea, Australia, China, Indonesia, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Iran and India have been confirmed as participants after a thorough assessment of their eligibility for a competition that would be revamped to go along completely professional lines.

The ad-hoc committee chairman Saburo Kawabuchi said on Tuesday that the recommendations made by them were based on inspections and assessments of 21 members associations.

“We have had long, fruitful discussions and our goal is to create an attractive competition that will take Asian football to new heights,” he said.

The AFC president Mohamed Hammam (pic) said that Asian football needed a big reformation process to make it professional and successful.

“I know that radical changes might not please everybody. But we must have the courage of conviction,” he said.

The assessment was based on 10 aspects – organisation, technical standards, attendance, governance, marketing and promotion, business scale, match organisation, media, stadiums and clubs.

The ad-hoc committee employed four grades in their assessment – A (met all criteria), B (assured to meet criteria by October 2008), C (not assured to meet criteria by October 2008) and D (do not meet the criteria).

Only Japan met all criteria. Ten countries were rated as B (Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE, Iran, India, Indonesia, Australia, China and South Korea). Syria, Qatar, Uzbekistan, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore were rated as C while Malaysia were in the D grade with Bahrain, Oman and Hong Kong.

Of the 21 countries, Malaysia were ranked 18th.

The ranking order: 1. Japan, 2. South Korea, 3. China, 4. Saudi Arabia, 5. UAE, 6. Iran, 7. Australia, 8. Indonesia, 9. Singapore, 10. Syria, 11. Uzbekistan, 12. Qatar, 13. Thailand. 14. Jordan, 15. Vietnam, 16. Kuwait, 17. India, 18. Malaysia, 19. Hong Kong, 20. Oman, 21. Bahrain.

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