Vietnamese club says it was unfairly disqualified by AFC

Vietnam’s Binh Duong Football Club, winner of the 2008 V-League, has been disqualified from the AFC Champions League 2009 under new rules released by the Asia Football Confederation

A last minute tweaking of tournament rules leaves the only local representative to compete at the AFC Champions League 2009 out in the cold.

Vietnamese sports authorities are frustrated over the late decision by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) disqualifying Binh Duong Football Club from the AFC Champions League 2009 (ACL) the draw for which takes place tomorrow.

Under new rules announced mid-2008, only clubs and leagues that are professionally run as commercial entities will be eligible to take part in the competition.

Local experts say the criteria are inadequate and unfair, and were published too close to the competition.

The AFC has informed the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) that the club would play in the AFC Cup instead.

ACL organizers will tomorrow hold the draw in the United Arab Emirates for the group stages. Prize money for the champion and the runner-up will be increased to US$1.5 million and $750,000 from last year’s $600,000 and $400,000 respectively.

Besides 31 qualified teams, another slot was to be filled by qualifying playoffs next month between five teams – Binh Duong FC (Vietnam), Provincial Electricity Authority FC (Thailand), Singapore Armed Forces FC (Singapore), PSMS Medan (Indonesia), Al Sharjah (United Arab Emirates), Dempo (India).

Binh Duong FC has been disqualified for this playoff round.

Contradiction in terms

“The VFF should support the club by complaining to the AFC,” said Binh Duong FC Managing Director Tran Van Duong. “It is a contradiction. While some clubs, including those from Indonesia, haven’t performed as well as Vietnam, they have up to two clubs qualified for the ACL.”

Duong also said that Vietnam’s V-League champions should be an official representative for Vietnam in the Championship.

Binh Duong Province’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Deputy Director Nguyen Kim Phung also said he had petitioned the VFF about the unreasonable disqualification.

“Why can’t Vietnam have a representative [at the ACL] like other countries including Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia?” he asked. “Vietnam has claimed the Southeast Asian championship at the Suzuki AFF Cup last December.”

Phung also said the V-League has been one of the important national leagues in the region and Vietnam had strong teams and players.

“Binh Duong FC has invested a lot in the team and bought strong players not only to win the V-League but also to compete in the ACL,” he said.

Last September, Binh Duong FC signed a two-year contract with the Portuguese coach Francisco Vital to prepare for the AFC after claiming the V-League championship a month earlier.

He said many local clubs might be discouraged by the AFC’s disqualification and wouldn’t continue to do their best.

Inadequate rules

AFC’s decision could be said in short that none of Vietnam clubs would meet the criteria required for the ACL, the VFF Deputy General Secretary Duong Nghiep Khoi told Thanh Nien Tuesday.

He said the AFC Pro League Ad-hoc Committee Deputy Chairman, Tokuaki Suzuki had told VFF that he would persuade the committee to qualify Vietnam clubs for the Championship. Suzuki made the statement during an inspection of local clubs few months ago.

VFF Deputy Chairman Le Hung Dung says he has also reported to Suzuki that under the current conditions, none of the Vietnamese football clubs would be eligible since most clubs cannot survive on playing football alone.

However, AFC has disqualified Binh Duong FC from ACL, despite all these facts. VFF Deputy General Secretary Khoi also said Binh Duong FC couldn’t be blamed for the disqualification.

VFF hasn’t issued any regulations thus far for clubs run as commercial entities, he said.

The AFC Champions League was officially launched last December, in Tokyo, Japan.

VFF ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: Annual financial reports must be submitted to Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Clubs in the premier league must have at least 16 players signing contracts to play as professional players. Compile exact figures for number of spectators at each match. Each stadium in the V-League must organize post-match press conferences for all matches. All clubs in the V-League have to be commercial entities. Organizers of V-League must be a specialized entity which is elected and managed by VFF. The clubs’ head coaches must have graduated with AFC’s A license or have other certification recognized by AFC.

Reported by Thanh Nien staff