The Football Association of Singapore (FAS) will not enter any teams into the Asian Champions League next season.
FAS president Zainudin Nordin explained to Asian Football Confederation counterpart Mohamed Bin Hammam that a key factor in the decision was the S-League's inability to meet the new criteria for entrants in the 2011 competition.
One of the criteria is that participating leagues cannot contain any foreign teams, with the likes of French outfit Etoile FC, Chinese side Beijing Guoan Talent and Albirex Niigata Singapore - are satellite teams of the Chinese Super League and J-League clubs respectively - currently participating in the S-League.
“We concluded that due to our current lack of critical mass in key areas such as talent pool and resources, there is still a pressing need for us to continue having foreign teams participating in our league, to help address these gaps in our game and safeguard the sustainability of our league in football excellence, commercial and financial terms,” said Nordin.
Whilst Nordin did not rule out eventually phasing out participation of foreign clubs in Singapore, for the moment he confirmed they would remain to enhance the quality of the competition.
AFC president Bin Hammam said he hoped S-League sides would return to the continent's flagship club competition.
“We have taken on board the situation of the FAS. We hope they will consider seeking direct entry to the ACL soon.
“It is hard to see Singapore out of AFC’s professional football activities in spite of their great potential. We will work hard towards seeing them playing an active role in our professional football programmes in the future.”
FAS president Zainudin Nordin explained to Asian Football Confederation counterpart Mohamed Bin Hammam that a key factor in the decision was the S-League's inability to meet the new criteria for entrants in the 2011 competition.
One of the criteria is that participating leagues cannot contain any foreign teams, with the likes of French outfit Etoile FC, Chinese side Beijing Guoan Talent and Albirex Niigata Singapore - are satellite teams of the Chinese Super League and J-League clubs respectively - currently participating in the S-League.
“We concluded that due to our current lack of critical mass in key areas such as talent pool and resources, there is still a pressing need for us to continue having foreign teams participating in our league, to help address these gaps in our game and safeguard the sustainability of our league in football excellence, commercial and financial terms,” said Nordin.
Whilst Nordin did not rule out eventually phasing out participation of foreign clubs in Singapore, for the moment he confirmed they would remain to enhance the quality of the competition.
AFC president Bin Hammam said he hoped S-League sides would return to the continent's flagship club competition.
“We have taken on board the situation of the FAS. We hope they will consider seeking direct entry to the ACL soon.
“It is hard to see Singapore out of AFC’s professional football activities in spite of their great potential. We will work hard towards seeing them playing an active role in our professional football programmes in the future.”
Singapore Clubs Pull Out Of Asian Champions League
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