Reigning champion Al Hilal expelled from the Asian Champions League due to coronavirus

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) announced on Wednesday that Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia, the

, has been withdrawn from this year's tournament for not reaching the minimum of 13 players, after registering several infections of coronavirus.

"El Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia failed to name the 13 players required for their Asian Football Confederation Champions League (West) Group B match against

of the United Arab Emirates, and (...) is considered as withdrawn from the competition, "the AFC said in a statement.

According to the note, the Saudi team only appointed eleven players for the meeting with the Emirati team, invalidating all the games played so far by Al Hilal and allowing

to pass to the sixteenth of group B

.

From the beginning, the Saudis only registered

, while only 27 traveled to Doha for the start of the qualifying, which is divided into two large groups: East and West, and which will determine the teams that will face each other. in the Asian Champions League.

"To support the technical preparations of the club affected by COVID-19, the AFC consequently allowed the addition of

to replace those who tested positive for COVID-19," reads the statement, clarifying that Al Hilal requested a postponement of the party.

However, this is only allowed in "exceptional" cases if the change does not affect match schedules and the tournament's COVID-19 Subcommittee considered that it would have a "huge negative" impact on the tournament, rejecting the request. postponement.

The Saudi team posted on its Twitter account in the last hours its template for the match and even photographs of several players upon arrival at the stadium, but finally alerted in a short message that the match had been canceled, without offering further details.

More than a hundred players, coaches and administrators from two Saudi Arabian soccer leagues tested positive for the coronavirus between late June and early July, according to the Saudi Soccer Federation (SFF).

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