Two clubs from Thailand and two from Indonesia have been disqualified from the 2006 Asian Champions League for failing to adhere to player registration regulations, the Asian Football Confederation said Friday.
Provincial Electricity Authority and Thailand Tobacco Monopoly and Indonesian clubs Arema Malang and Persipura Jayapura failed to submit their official player registration forms by the deadline of midnight Feb. 12.
The decision gave J. League second division club Tokyo Verdy's hopes of advancing to the quarterfinals a boost as the AFC have decided that, despite the disqualification of the four clubs, the format of the competition should stay the same and Group F and Group G will consequently contain only two teams.
Verdy, the 2004 Emperor's Cup winners, and South Korea's Ulsang Horang-I are left in Group F after the exit of Arema Malang and Tobacco Monopoly. They will play in Tokyo on March 8 and in South Korea on May 3.