No More ACL Slots For A-League

[midfielder]

Guess we have to either win the premership or win the grand final... to get back to Asia.

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No More ACL Slots For A-League



Staff Writer
Nov 22 2010 02:41


THE ASIAN Football Confederation have dashed hopes of expanding the Australian presence in the AFC Champions League competition for the A-League's top clubs this season.
An AFC inspection team toured Australia in September to assess the competition's current status as part of an Asia-wide re-examination of domestic leagues.

Hopes were high that the A-League's expansion and increased skill levels could see at least one more Australian club qualifying for the elite continental competition this season to play in 2012's ACL.

But yesterday the AFC decided to put changes on hold for another year.

The only change in the slots for the 2011 edition is Vietnam’s disqualification for non-submission of documents and the allocation of their ACL play-off spot to Qatar.

The committee said progress had been made by countries in meeting the AFC's criteria but felt that there were still many areas that needed improvement.

The members asked AFC’s Special Mission Team to conduct inspections and workshops again next year.

On the basis of the SMT reports, a decision will be made in November 2011 to implement the new slots in the 2013 ACL. The committee decided that 2012 would have the same number of slots as 2011.

AFC President Mohamed Bin Hammam asked the presidents of the national associations and clubs in the continent to join forces to bring the standard of football to match the best in the world.

“Football in Asia has developed to a certain extent but there is still a long way to go to fill the gap between Asia and other top-class footballing nations," said Bin Hammam.

“We established standing committees for professional football, leagues and clubs because the presidents of the associations and clubs were not part of the decision-making process of the confederation in the past which created a lot of misunderstanding between the confederation and the national associations.

“The time has come now to join our efforts to contribute in the development of national and continental football.

“This is the right platform where we can discuss the common goal and focus on the interest of the continent. It is time to review the progress we have made and the future plans.”

The meeting also categorically ruled out any hope of Wellington Phoenix winning an ACL slot, regardless of any A-League success the New Zealand-based club might have.

The committee confirmed that only Australian clubs would be allowed to participate in the AFC Champions League and the highest-placed eligible club would take the place of Phoenix if they qualified.

Bin Hammam was also re-elected unopposed for his third four year term as AFC President.

He added: “I would like to look forward to another four years hoping this would fulfil the expectations of our fans, players, coaches, and referees.”