A decision by the Professional League to cancel the Arab Gulf League championship is now one step away from its official announcement, as the League expects the arrival of the FIFA response regarding the extent of its agreement to adopt a new registration period for clubs, to complete the rounds. The remaining seven of the competition are or not, according to an official source, who declined to be named.
The source stressed the difficulty of completing the season with the current situation, after the contracts of many foreign players and citizens ended, at the end of last May and during June.
On the other hand, a member of the Board of the Football Association, former Chairman of the Status of Players Committee, Dr. Salim Al Shamsi, stressed the difficulty of FIFA's approval to open a third registration period for any local federation, stressing that a decision like this requires the approval of the General Assembly of the International Federation.
Al Shamsi told «Emirates Today»: «There is a union in one of the Asian countries that preceded the Emirati federation, to inquire about the legality of opening a third registration period to complete the local season, and (FIFA )’s response to them was rejected.
He added: «The International Federation set the summer registration period to be 12 consecutive weeks, and four weeks in the winter transfer period, but excluded this year from the opening times of the registration period, which is most likely to be in the months (July, August and September), due to the pandemic (Corona), and left Every local association is free to decide the date of the summer registration period, according to the end of the local season, due to the Corona virus. ”
He explained: «The meaning of the exception provided by FIFA during registration periods is not to allow unions that have not completed their competitions to reopen the registration door, because this is a legal violation, but it will not open until after the season ends, or any local federation announces the cancellation of the competition ».
Sources close to the Professional League and the Football Association confirmed that in the event of announcing the non-completion of the Arab Gulf League championship, the identity of the competition champion will not be announced and the ups and downs will be canceled, and all results of the competition will be considered canceled.
Asked by Dr. Salim Al Shamsi about the extent of the legality of the clubs participating in the AFC Champions League in registering new players to complete the League of Groups, he replied: “In the event that the league is officially annulled, the four clubs participating in the AFC Champions League have the right to register new players and involve them In the remaining matches in the AFC Champions League, because the local season has officially ended, and the Football Association may open the registration period before fixing the date of the remaining matches in the AFC Champions League, which gives our clubs the right to register their players and participate in the matches ».
The current edition of the AFC Champions League includes youth clubs (Al Ahly, Al Ain, Sharjah and Al Wahda).
Regarding the legal extent that the AFC allows the UAE federation to open the registration door to complete the season as an alternative to FIFA, Salim Al Shamsi said: “Setting the dates of registration periods is the prerogative of the International Federation only, and not the continental federations, which are only responsible for receiving lists of clubs participating in their competitions. According to the timing set by (FIFA) ».
The Association of Professionals announced after its board meeting, which was held last Saturday, that it is about to meet in the coming days with the AFC.
The meeting is expected to focus on discussing the proposed dates for completing the joint Asia qualifying matches for the 2022 World Cup, the 2023 Asian Cup, and completing the group league matches, to determine the dates for the launch of the new season, which was initially determined in August.
• The four clubs participating in the AFC Champions League have the right to register new players and participate in the remaining matches of the tournament, if the league is officially canceled.