Article 73.6 of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Statutes does not involve a mere check to see if a club has met specific requirements for admission to the AFC Cup. It involves two distinct steps: (l) Establishment that the club has been directly or indirectly involved in any activity aimed at arranging or influencing the outcome of a match; and, if so (2) Exercise of a discretion whether or not to refuse the club admission to the competition by the AFC General Secretary.
Facts/Procedure
At the end of October 2015, Phnom Penh Crown Football Club (the Club) was given access to a voice recording which it considered included discussions among four of its coaches about ways to achieve the dismissal of the Club’s Head Coach. Amongst other matters the four Coaches appeared to have discussed having players injure other players in training and having some players not play to the best of their ability, all that being aimed to convince the Club’s President that the Head Coach should be dismissed.
On 7 November 2015, based on that recording, the Club informed the four Coaches and seven players that they were indefinitely suspended. Although the Club considered there was no concrete evidence against the players, it decided that suspension was appropriate pending further inquiries.
On 8 November 20 15, the Club released a media statement giving information of the suspensions. It sent a copy of the statement...
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