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UAE teams given go ahead for new Champions League
Club football in the UAE received a tremendous boost yesterday when the country was selected by the AFC Pro-League Ad-Hoc Committee in the first list of 11 nations eligible to field their teams in the new AFC Champions League next year.
- By M. Satya Narayan, Senior Reporter
- Published: 00:15 May 21, 2008
Abu DhabiL Club football in the UAE received a tremendous boost yesterday when the country was selected by the AFC Pro-League Ad-Hoc Committee in the first list of 11 nations eligible to field their teams in the new AFC Champions League next year.
The Committee, which met yesterday in Kuala Lumpur, recommended to the AFC Executive Committee that Japan, Korea Republic, Australia, China, Indonesia, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE, Iran and India as participants, after a thorough assessment of their eligibility for the 2009 AFC Champions League, which will be relaunched on professional lines.
According to the AFC, the Pro-League Ad-Hoc Committee employed four grades to assess the suitability of 21 member associations for next year's AFC Champions League. Only Japan met all the criteria.
Ten member associations including the UAE were rated 'B', which meant the committee was confident of them meeting set criteria by October 1 this year.
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