ACL brawl: initial penalties handed out

GOAL – KUALA LUMPUR, The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has released a press statement outlining the initial penalties for those involved in the violent scenes that marred Wednesday’s Asian Champions League (ACL) semi-final first leg between Suwon Bluewings and Al Sadd.

An all-in brawl involving players, coaching staff and even a fan erupted after Al Sadd striker Mamadou Niang raced through on goal to score his side’s second goal of the evening; after Suwon had put the ball out following an injury.

Suwon spokesman Choi Won-Chang has come out firing believing that although his side was partly to blame in the altercation, Al Sadd deserve to be punished more severely for their misconduct.

“We’ll take responsibility for the lack of security,” Choi told the AFP.

“But I expect the opponents to get far heavier punishment for the ungentlemanly act and assaulting the fan.”

Initial penalties given by the AFC mean that Al Sadd will be without Keita Abdul Kader, Niang and goalkeeper coach Suhail Saber Ali for the return leg of the semi-final on Wednesday, while Suwon have had both player Stevica Ristic and coach Ko Jong-Su suspended for the clash as well.

The second leg of the ACL clash will take place at the Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium on October 26.

Interestingly, this is not the first instance of violence that has taken place involving Al Sadd in Asian club football. In 2004 the Qatar club were part of a melee with Kuwaiti side Al Qadisiya which former AFC president Mohamed bin Hammam described as a “boxing match”.

On that instance, Al Qadisiya were thrown out of the ACL, suspended from the competitions for three years and copped a €14,400 fine. The Qataris remained in the ACL but had five players disqualified from the competition for two years.

With the latest incident still to be deferred to the AFC Disciplinary Committee, more penalties are expected to be handed down on Suwon and Al Sadd.